His wife's health began to deteriorate and became critical by the beginning of January 1888, and she died at the end of that month. The funeral was held on 3 February 1888 in Teddington Parish Church, and she was buried in Teddington Cemetery. After her death, Blackmore was looked after by her nieces, Eva and Adalgisa Pinto-Leite. Blackmore died at Teddington on 20 January 1900 after a long and painful illness, and was buried next to his wife, as per his request. His final letter was to his sister Ellen, who likewise was suffering a terminal illness. Blackmore movingly ended his short Christmas letter of 1899 as follows: