 In 1859 Bleek briefly returned to Europe in an effort to improve his poor health but returned to the Cape and his research soon after.In 1861 Bleek met his future wife, Jemima Lloyd, at the boarding house where he lived in Cape Town (run by a Mrs Roesch), while she was waiting for a passage to England, and they developed a relationship through correspondence.She returned to Cape Town from England the following year.