Edward Manning (1766 – January 12, 1851) was an Irish-born Canadian preacher and Baptist leader whose ministry shaped the early Baptist churches in the Maritime provinces during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Born in Ireland to Peter Manning, a farmer who later turned murderer and was executed in 1776, and Nancy Carroll, he arrived in Nova Scotia around 1769 with his Catholic family, which soon adopted Protestantism. Deeply impacted by the New Light movement under Henry Alline, he converted on April 27, 1789, after years of spiritual turmoil, and began preaching as an itinerant New Light Congregational minister, later pastoring the Cornwallis church. Manning’s preaching career evolved significantly when he embraced Baptist principles, undergoing immersion baptism in 1797 and founding the Cornwallis Baptist Church by 1807 after a split with Congregationalists. His sermons, rooted in evangelical fervor, focused on conversion and church purity, influencing the establishment of Baptist congregations across Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. A key organizer of the Nova Scotia Baptist Association in 1800, he also championed education, contributing to the founding of Horton Academy (1828) and Acadia College (1838) in Wolfville, despite his own limited schooling. Married to Rebecca Skinner on June 25, 1801, with whom he had three daughters, Manning died at age 84 in Upper Canard, Nova Scotia, leaving a legacy as a pioneer of Maritime Baptist identity and mission work.