diff --git a/include/wx/msw/panel.h b/include/wx/msw/panel.h
index 5073fe30ba..4761192d66 100644
--- a/include/wx/msw/panel.h
+++ b/include/wx/msw/panel.h
@@ -34,6 +34,8 @@ public:
         Create(parent, winid, pos, size, style, name);
     }
 
+    virtual ~wxPanel();
+
     // This is overridden for MSW to return true for all panels that are child
     // of a window with themed background (such as wxNotebook) which should
     // show through the child panels.
diff --git a/src/msw/panel.cpp b/src/msw/panel.cpp
index e5b57eeb3a..c502caf9f5 100644
--- a/src/msw/panel.cpp
+++ b/src/msw/panel.cpp
@@ -33,6 +33,11 @@
 // implementation
 // ============================================================================
 
+wxPanel::~wxPanel()
+{
+    delete m_backgroundBrush;
+}
+
 bool wxPanel::HasTransparentBackground()
 {
     for ( wxWindow *win = GetParent(); win; win = win->GetParent() )