Clay had been in precarious health during the year, and had been obliged to abandon work on a third cantata, "Sardanapalus", commissioned for the Leeds Festival. After conducting the second performance of "The Golden Ring" in December 1883 he suffered a stroke that paralysed him and cut short his productive life. In 1889 at the age of 51, he was found drowned in his bath at the home of his sisters in Great Marlow. The coroner's verdict was suicide while of unsound mind. Clay was buried in Brompton cemetery on 29 November 1889.