 He personally supervised the construction of a family vault at the West Terrace Cemetery.He drew up his will in 1890 and in the last years of his life appended five codicils, the third of which reduced the allowance to his wife, to whom he had become estranged, from £100 to £30 "per annum".He gifted the extensive Reedbeds property to his five sons, his West Terrace property to his wife and daughter Jane, and his North Adelaide properties to daughters Bessie and Edith in order to avoid inheritance taxes.