Sir Matthew Digby Wyatt then oversaw the conversion of the property into a lunatic asylum for patients sent home from British India.
In 1874 the India Office was given notice that the proposed Hounslow and Metropolitan Railway was to run through the grounds of the Asylum.
An Act to give effect to this was enacted in 1878, with provisions to protect the interests of the Royal Indian Asylum: a compulsory purchase was limited to no more than two acres, unless the Secretary of State consented; the railway would go through the grounds in cutting; a bridge and road over the cutting were to be built and maintained; and the railway was to be fenced off.
[2] Negotiations between the India Office and the railway centred on the price to be paid for the land, the position of the bridge, and the fencing.
It was agreed that an iron railing would serve the purpose and look better than the high brick wall planned by the railway company.