Buckland's early death was presaged by lung haemorrhages in 1879 after working in the winter. In 1880 he had severe oedema. The excess fluid was drained using a novel treatment of the time, a cannula called Southey's tube developed by the surgeon Dr Henry Herbert Southey whose brother, the poet Robert Southey, was a friend of Buckland. He also had asthma and bronchitis from a history of heavy cigar smoking. The death certificate records the cause as hepatic disease and bronchitis although the cause may have been pulmonary tuberculosis. He was buried in Brompton Cemetery, London.