In 1804, Gilchrist was granted leave of absence from his position at Fort William and travelled back to Britain. However, due to ill health, he never returned to India. He retired from the service of the East India Company in 1805 and was awarded a pension for the remainder of his life. He took an interest in the Borthwick title and, through a series of grants of arms, he eventually styled himself, "John Borthwick Gilchrist, of Camberwell, in the county of Surrey, LL.D., late Professor of the Hindoostanee Language in the College of Fort William, at Calcutta."