Centuries of Sovereignty

The Isle of Man was not governed like a county or a colony - it was originally a Kingdom of its own, with its own unique Government, laws and customs that dates back over a thousand years. 

Typically when talking about the rulers of the Isle of Man we start with Godred Crovan. Likely the basis for the legendary King Orry, we know that Crovan captured the Island in the 11th century and quickly established an impressive kingdom that included Dublin in Ireland and most of the Hebrides islands around Scotland. There had been Kings of the island before him, but Godred Crovan is the one they still talk about today.  After Crovan, control of the island switched from being under control of the main King of Norway or by one of the Norse chieftans based on the island, until it fell under Scottish control in the 13th century. For the next hundred years control swapped between Scotland and England until finally in 1333 Edward III announced that he recognised the Isle of Man as an independent nation and had granted the independent hereditary rule of the country as a reward to one of his Nobles, at the same time giving up his claim to it .

Often the Kingdom of Mann was linked with other Islands, but with Edward's pronouncement it once more became the King of Mann. Two centuries later however, to avoid upsetting Henry VIII, one of the holders of the title decided to change it to Lord of Mann, as Henry wasn't really the kind of guy who was keen on other people in his kingdom also being called King and had an unfortunate habit of cutting off the heads of people he fell out with.

Since Edward's granting to the Montacutes ownership of the title has passed through several families. The Montacutes held it until 1392 when they sold it to the le Scrope family. Following the purchase, William le Scrope was inaugurated at Tynwald in the Manx tradition — the original Letters Patent included the title of King, and the right of being crowned with a golden crown.  All was going well for the le Scropes until they got mixed up in the dispute over who would be the King of England and made the unfortunate decision to back the wrong claimant.  That decision resulted in them losing their claim to the title in 1399, along with their heads. As a result the new King, Henry IV, confiscated the title and granted it to the family of his supporter,  Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland. Unfortunately, Percy didn't really learn from the mistake of his predecessor and also rebelled against Henry who promptly took the title back and granted it to another of his supporters, Sir John Stanley.

This time the lesson was definitely learned and the Stanleys held the title for three and a half centuries — the longest continuous family holding in the island’s history. When the male Stanley line failed with the death of Ferdinando, 5th Earl of Derby, in 1594, the Lordship entered a period of dispute over who should inherit it between Ferdinando's daughter and his brother. To settle this, Elizabeth I referred the inheritance question to her Chief Justices, producing the Five Resolutions of 1598 — one of the most important British constitutional legal determinations in Manx history. The Chief Justices, confirmed the Island’s constitutional status as coordinate to that of Britain. In other words, the legal right of the Isle of Man to be independent from Britain (now the United Kingdom) was exactly equal to the authority that Parliament claimed in Britain.  They also pointed out that technically Henry IV hadn't quite gotten things right when he confiscated the title from Henry Percy and granted the title to the Stanley's, but that was easily resolved with a new Letters Patent in 1609 formally granting the hereditary title to the Stanley's.

When the Stanley male line failed again in 1736, things once again became a little confusing. The title Earl of Derby, which had been held by the Stanley family went to a distant cousin, but the title Lord of Man was a different title and that passed to a grandson of a previous Earl, James Murray the 2nd Duke of Atholl.  When James died in 1764, his daughter Charlotte inherited the title Lord of Mann, but the title Duke of Atholl was inherited by her cousin, John.

Unlike some titles (including the Lord of Mann), the Duke of Atholl title could only be inherited by a male descendent. As John's now deceased father had been been James Murray's brother, John being the late Duke's nephew should have inherited the Dukedom straight away. But John's father (Lord George Murray) had been a Jacobite rebel and as a result had had all his titles and claims stripped from him, so it took an Act of Parliament to grant the Dukedom to John.

So, we have Charlotte Murray who inherited the title Lord of Mann from her father but her cousin John Murray, thanks to Parliament, has inherited the title Duke of Atholl. Which made things really clear when Charlotte and John then got married. 

And then in 1765, things all changed again when the Crown forced Charlotte and John to sell the title to the British Monarchy, specifically George III. Since then every British Monarch has also separately inherited the title Lord of Mann, which is a title they hold in addition to the Crown of the United Kingdom and one which they could, technically, change back to being King (or Queen) of Mann.

The Medieval Lords

Before the Stanleys, the Lordship changed hands through grants, purchases, and political fortune. After the Norse kingdom ended and the Scottish wars subsided, Edward III granted the island to William Montacute, Earl of Salisbury. The Scropes purchased it from the Montacute family in 1392, and William le Scrope was inaugurated at Tynwald in the Manx tradition. His brother Stephen was proclaimed heir-apparent at the 1393 Tynwald in the tanist tradition — the ancient Manx succession custom — rather than by English primogeniture. The lordship was already something distinct from an English estate.

The Stanley Lordship

The longest continuous lordship in the island’s history. Henry IV granted the Isle of Man to Sir John Stanley in 1405 — a lifetime grant made inheritable the following year. The Stanleys held it for three and a half centuries, governing through deputies from their Lancashire estates at Knowsley and Lathom. The grant conveyed the lordship “adeo libere, plene, & integre” — as freely, fully, and entirely as previous lords had held it.

The 2nd Earl replaced the title of King with Lord — either political prudence after the Wars of the Roses, or a gesture of submission. The 7th Earl, James Stanley, was the ablest of his line: he codified Manx law, strengthened Tynwald, and earned the Manx language name Yn Stanlagh Mooar. His son Charles ordered the execution of Illiam Dhone from Lathom in 1662.

When Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl, died without male heir in 1594, the lordship entered dispute. Elizabeth I referred the question to the Chief Justices, producing the Five Resolutions of 1598 — the determination that Mann was “an ancient Kingdom of itself, and no part of the Kingdom of England.” The Act of 1609 confirmed William Stanley, 6th Earl, as Lord of Mann and codified the island’s coordinate constitutional status through letters patent under the Great Seal.

The Atholl Lordship

When the Stanley male line failed, the lordship passed through marriage to the Murray family, Dukes of Atholl. They governed from even further away — Blair Castle and Dunkeld in the Scottish Highlands. The 2nd Duke held the lordship from 1736 to 1764, visiting the island rarely. His acceptance of Parliament’s forced purchase in 1765 ended three and a half centuries of private lordship.

The 3rd Duke is often confused with the 2nd. It was the 3rd Duke who formally sold the lordship to the Crown, though the 2nd Duke had held it through most of the critical period. The 4th Duke spent decades pursuing further compensation from the Crown, eventually securing a substantial settlement in 1828.

The Crown as Lord of Mann

After the Revestment, the title of Lord of Mann passed to the Crown. George III became Lord of Mann in 1765 — not King of Mann, but Lord. The ancient title survived the purchase intact. Every British monarch since has held it, though most never visited the island and several never set foot on Manx soil at all.

George VI was the first Lord of Mann to stand on Tynwald Hill since the Duke of Atholl’s last appearance in 1736 — two hundred and nine years without a lord presiding over the parliament he technically governed. Elizabeth II presided at Tynwald twice, always as Lord of Mann, never as Queen. The title persists, unchanged, into the reign of Charles III.

Continue exploring People

The lords were only part of the story. Explore the governors who served them, the merchants who built the economy, and the families whose names run through Manx history.