One year before his death in 1861, the partnership between Cheffins and his sons—as surveyors, draftsmen, and lithographers—was dissolved by mutual consent. The business continued with Cheffins and his son Charles Richard Cheffins as partners. Cheffins died suddenly from internal injuries on 23 October 1861, leaving his son Charles to complete the work which he commenced a month or two before his death. His death, at the age of fifty-four, was said to have greatly impacted his friends, colleagues, and assistants, who had served under him in the numerous parliamentary campaigns in which he had been engaged – and to many of whom he had shown much kindness in recommending them to posts of trust and responsibility on the Indian Railways.
