Ayrton is best remembered for the so-called "Ayrton controversy". In an attempt, in the early 1870s, to reduce Government spending, Ayrton (as First Commissioner of Works) encouraged a proposal that the costly scientific functions of Kew Gardens should be transferred and that the gardens should be retained purely as a public park.
Ayrton is most famously associated with the so-called "Ayrton debacle". In an attempt to cut Government expenditures in the early 1870s, Ayrton (as First Commissioner of Works) proposed transferring Kew Gardens' costly scientific functions and retaining the gardens as a public park.