Life

Son of Robert Paman, he was born at his father's estate of Chevington, Suffolk

Suffolk

Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...

. He entered as a sizar

Sizar

At Trinity College, Dublin and the University of Cambridge, a sizar is a student who receives some form of assistance such as meals, lower fees or lodging during his or her period of study, in some cases in return for doing a defined job....

 at Emmanuel College, Cambridge

Emmanuel College, Cambridge

Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay on the site of a Dominican friary...

, on 22 June 1643, where William Sancroft

William Sancroft

William Sancroft was the 79th Archbishop of Canterbury.- Life :Sancroft was born at Ufford Hall in Fressingfield, Suffolk, son of Francis Sandcroft and Margaret Sandcroft née Butcher...

 was his tutor. They became friends for life. He migrated to St. John's College, on 22 July 1646, graduated B.A. the same year, and was elected a fellow of that college. He became M.A. in 1650, and was incorporated M.A. at Oxford on 11 July 1655. On 20 June 1656 he kept an act for a medical degree before Professor Francis Glisson

Francis Glisson

Francis Glisson was a British physician, anatomist, and writer on medical subjects. He did important work on the anatomy of the liver, and he wrote an early pediatric text on rickets...

, maintaining the thesis Morbis acutis convenit dieta tenuissima In the same year he was senior proctor, and in 1658 he graduated M.D., being incorporated M.D. at Oxford on 13 July 1669. He was elected public orator at Cambridge on 5 March 1674, ahead of Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton

Sir Isaac Newton PRS was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian, who has been "considered by many to be the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived."...

, and held office till 9 July 1681.

In 1677 Paman went to reside in Lambeth Palace

Lambeth Palace

Lambeth Palace is the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury in England. It is located in Lambeth, on the south bank of the River Thames a short distance upstream of the Palace of Westminster on the opposite shore. It was acquired by the archbishopric around 1200...

 with Archbishop Sancroft. On 21 June 1679 he was appointed Professor of Physic at Gresham College, and on 1 December 1679 he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1683 he was admitted a candidate at the College of Physicians

Royal College of Physicians

The Royal College of Physicians of London was founded in 1518 as the College of Physicians by royal charter of King Henry VIII in 1518 - the first medical institution in England to receive a royal charter...

, and elected a fellow on 12 April 1687. He graduated LL.D. at Cambridge in 1684, and was thereupon appointed master of the faculties

Master of the Faculties

The Master of the Faculties is a functionary in the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury and has some important powers in English law, in particular the appointment and regulation of public notaries. The position is always held by the Dean of Arches....

 by Sancroft. He resigned his professorship on 21 June 1689. When Sancroft declined the oaths to William III and left Lambeth, Paman also declined, and gave up his mastership of the faculties.

He went to live in the parish of St Paul's, Covent Garden

St Paul's, Covent Garden

St Paul's Church, also commonly known as the Actors' Church, is a church designed by Inigo Jones as part of a commission by Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford in 1631 to create "houses and buildings fitt for the habitacons of Gentlemen and men of ability" in Covent Garden, London, England.As well...

, where he died in June 1695; he was buried in the parish church. He was rich, and, after providing for his relations, left sums of money and books to St. John's College, to Emmanuel College, to the College of Physicians, and to his native parish.

Works

Eight Latin letters written by him as public orator were printed under the title Literae Academiae Cantabrigiensis ab Henrico Paman cum esset orator publicus scriptae.

A Latin letter by him to his friend Thomas Sydenham

Thomas Sydenham

Thomas Sydenham was an English physician. He was born at Wynford Eagle in Dorset, where his father was a gentleman of property. His brother was Colonel William Sydenham. Thomas fought for the Parliament throughout the English Civil War, and, at its end, resumed his medical studies at Oxford...

is published in Sydenham's works as a preface to the treatise De Luis Veneriae historià et curatione.