He lived in Madeira nearly all his life until he retired to England in 1862.
Working in the family wine business from the time that he finished his schooling
at Winchester, he nevertheless was involved in many community projects in the
Island, the chief of which was the establishment of a school for boys in 1819,
following the Lancaster method. The mildew disease which struck the vines in
1851 dealt a severe blow to the business from which the family fortunes never
fully recovered. Joseph died in Clapham aged 84 and is buried in Woking
Cemetery, Surrey England.