James Manning, an American clergyman, born in Elizabethtown, N. J., Oct. 22, 1738, died in Providence, R. I., July 29. 1791. He graduated at Princeton college in 1762, became pastor of a Baptist church at Morristown, N. J. in 1763, and soon afterward in Warren, R.I where he opened a Latin school. In 1763'at the request of an association formed for the purpose in Philadelphia, he proposed to several influential gentlemen of the denomination, assembled at Newport, the organization of " a seminary of polite literature, subject to the government of the Baptists," and drew up a plan for such an institution. In 1764 the legislature granted them a charter, and in 1765 Mr. Manning, then but 27 years of age, was appointed "president and professor of languages and other branches of learning, with full power to act in these capacities, at Warren or elsewhere." The college went into operation at Warren in 1766, and on its removal to Providence in 1770, Mr. Manning went with it, and also became pa-tor of the first Baptist church in that place. During the revolution, when the college edifice was occupied as a military barrack, and afterward as a hospital, he was actively engaged in clerical duties, and also rendered important services to the patriotic cause.

In 1783 he resumed his duties at the college, and in 1785 he was chosen to represent Rhode Island in congress, but after six months' service resigned. He resigned the presidency of the college in 1790, and his pastorate in April, 1791. (See Brown University).