the King's Orange Rangers, diverted from their planned course from Newfoundland to New York City during the American War of Independence, was blown off course and wrecked at Inishbofin (Royal Oak Cove). 56 of the soldiers died, many of the survivors deserted and were hunted down by troops from Westport. Around 1830, Inishbofin passed from the possession of the Clanricards to the Browne family of Westport, descendants of the O'Malleys. In 1837, the island was in the Barony of Murrisk, County of Mayo, and Province of Connaught. It belonged to Howe Browne, 2nd Marquess of Sligo. Circa 1855, George Browne sold the island to Henry William Wilberforce. Cyril Allies, an English Catholic, bought it from Wilberforce in 1876, after having held it in mortgage since 1859. It was eventually acquired by the Congested Districts Board for Ireland (later known as the Land Commission). The exact date is not known, but negotiations were "well advanced" by 1910. As of 1 February 1873, Inishbofin (as in the Civil Parish of Inishbofin which included Inishark as well) was no longer legally part of County Mayo but had become a part of County Galway. this was a consequence of a severe localised famine in the winter of 1872/3 which necessitated relief be organised via the nearer Poor Law Union based in Clifden Workhouse rather than the previously responsible Poor Law Union based around Louisburgh Workhouse and in view of the particular concentration of distress in West Connemara and Inishbofin/Inishark. In 1890, the island was visited by academics Alfred Cort Haddon and Andrew Francis Dixon (who later became Professor of Anatomy at Trinity College Dublin), who removed partial skeletal remains of 13 people, including their skulls, from St Colman's monastery on the island without the knowledge or permission of the community. They did so for the purposes of studying craniometry. Since then the remains have been stored in TCD's old anatomy museum. In 2023, it was reported that more than 150 current residents on Inisbofin had signed a petition calling for the return of the remains and condemning "the criminal nature of how these remains came into the possession of Trinity College in the first place". In February 2023, the provost of Trinity College, Dr Linda Doyle, apologised for the upset caused by the university's possession of the remains, and said the university would now consult with islanders on the most appropriate way to return