But he spent more of his time at George Whitefield's Tabernacle than in the counting-house, and before his term was finished he gave up his position and matriculated at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, on 17 May 1770.
Subsequently he was presented by Lord Robert Manners to the rectory of Bloxholm-cum-Digby in Lincolnshire, which he retained till his death.
The aftermath created a breach between Lady Arabella and the Countess of Moira, and application was made to the Archbishop of Dublin to use his influence to arrest the spread of Methodism.
He died from the effects of a wound in his hand, inflicted upon himself while making a post-mortem examination, on 18 August 1787, at his house in St James's, Westminster.
In its obituary, The Times described the infection which caused his death: Peckwell published, besides sermons, A Collection of Psalms and Hymns, London, 1760?