The Dyer was a member of the merchant class. He was not a serf, dependent on his landlord for food and shelter, but he was still a peasant. If he owned the cloth dyeing business, he might have been a member of a guild, and if he was successful, he could have been wealthy for the time. If he was an apprentice, he would have been poor.
One disadvantage of being a dyer, however, was the smell. It is said that Elizabeth I decreed that all dyers had to live outside the city walls. Here is how the job is described in "The Worst Jobs in History":
We are reliably informed that a poor sense of smell, or no sense of smell at all, would be a definite advantage in this job, unless you are one of those who find the aroma of cabbage mixed with excrement and cat wee particularly appealing. A desire to live outside the city walls, whence you and all your fellow workers will be banished, would also be a plus.
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