diff --git a/ccutil/tessdatamanager.cpp b/ccutil/tessdatamanager.cpp
index 6322df78e..4fb7f28ad 100644
--- a/ccutil/tessdatamanager.cpp
+++ b/ccutil/tessdatamanager.cpp
@@ -33,13 +33,6 @@
 
 namespace tesseract {
 
-// Lazily loads from the the given filename. Won't actually read the file
-// until it needs it.
-void TessdataManager::LoadFileLater(const char *data_file_name) {
-  Clear();
-  data_file_name_ = data_file_name;
-}
-
 bool TessdataManager::Init(const char *data_file_name) {
   GenericVector<char> data;
   if (reader_ == nullptr) {
diff --git a/ccutil/tessdatamanager.h b/ccutil/tessdatamanager.h
index 898a100c5..1c736663c 100644
--- a/ccutil/tessdatamanager.h
+++ b/ccutil/tessdatamanager.h
@@ -128,9 +128,6 @@ class TessdataManager {
   bool swap() const { return swap_; }
   bool is_loaded() const { return is_loaded_; }
 
-  // Lazily loads from the the given filename. Won't actually read the file
-  // until it needs it.
-  void LoadFileLater(const char *data_file_name);
   /**
    * Opens and reads the given data file right now.
    * @return true on success.