After leaving parliament he took a position as store manager for the Melbourne branch of M. Moss &amp; Company. In 1880 he was made a member of the Melbourne Exhibition Commission. He resigned his employment in Melbourne, possibly due to ill health, and returned to New South Wales. He died at Bay View House, Cooks River, on 10 June 1883. He was 48 years old and unmarried. He was buried in Rookwood Cemetery.