Manuel Codorniu y Ferreras (1 June 1788 – 18 July 1857) was a Spanish military physician, educator and publisher who served in the Senate (1841–1843)[1] and in the Constituent Cortes (1854–1856) of his native country.

[5] During his lifetime, he headed several medical and political publications —including El Sol, an influential masonic newspaper that actively opposed Mexican Emperor Agustín de Iturbide in the 1820s— and started an education program in Mexico based on the works of Joseph Lancaster.

[4] He joined the Overseas Army (Spanish: Ejército de Ultramar) and left for the New Spain, arriving to the Port of Veracruz with liberal Viceroy Juan O'Donojú on 31 June 1821.

In Mexico, he researched several endemic diseases and became actively involved in Scottish Rite masonic lodges, which at the time served as Royalist political clubs but, in contrast with the local Conservative parties, strongly resisted further influence from the Catholic Church in public affairs.

[8] In Mexico City, he founded El Sol, an influential newspaper that opposed Emperor Agustín de Iturbide and cofounded the Compañía Lancasteriana to implement innovative education practices popularized by Joseph Lancaster through the British and Foreign School Society.