In 1870 Brassey was told that he had cancer but he continued to visit his working sites. One of his last visits was to the Wolverhampton and Walsall Railway, only a few miles from his first railway contract at Penkridge. In the late summer of 1870 he took to his bed at his home in St Leonards-on-Sea. There he was visited by members of his work force, not only his engineers and agents, but also his navvies, many of whom had walked for days to come and pay their respects.