John Murray, third Duke of Atholl (1729-1774), the Lord of Mann who sold the Island to the Crown.

He held it in right of his wife. Charlotte, daughter of the second Duke and Baroness Strange in her own right, was the heir to the lordship, and the deeds of the transaction name the two of them together as the Duke and Duchess of Atholl.

The sale was carried through by trustees and in stages. The Island was conveyed to John Wood, the Governor, to be re-enfeoffed to Viscount Stormont, Sir Charles Frederick and Edmund Hoskins, and the Duke's own power of appointment over the trust property was reserved to him for his life. The contract with the Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury of 7 March 1765 was made between four of the Commissioners on one part and the Duke and Duchess with Frederick and Hoskins their trustees on the other, for the absolute purchase of the Isle with its dependencies, and provided that on payment of seventy thousand pounds into the Bank of England in the four names the Island should vest unalienably in the Crown.

His friends thought he had done well out of a bad business. Lord Kinnoull wrote to him from Dupplin on 9 March 1765, having heard of what he called the happy conclusion of the Duke's troublesome and interesting business, saying that he could not judge whether the compensation matched the loss of income but that all circumstances considered the agreement was proper, wise and prudent to accede to, and putting the success down to the Duke's own firmness, moderation and spirit.