He was invited down to Brighton to stay with his old friend Sir Henry Webster and, when the family joined him, they moved into lodgings. Gurwood continued to be very ill and on 27 December he cut this throat while Fanny and her daughters were out for a walk. Their friends immediately rallied round the stricken family. Lady Webster took them into her home, and Sir Henry and Lord Liverpool made themselves responsible for the removal of the body and for the funeral.