James Halman (c. 1639 – 23 December 1702) was an academic of the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. He held the office of

Registrary The Registrary is the senior administrative officer of the University of Cambridge. The term is unique to Cambridge, and uses an archaic spelling. Most universities in the United Kingdom and in North America have administrative offices entitled " re ...

of the university from 1683 to 1701 and was also the twenty-third Master of Gonville and Caius College. His surname was sometimes also spelt Holman.

Early life

Halman was the son of Nicholas Halman, a

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man and Rector of Thursford in

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

. He was educated at Holt School before being admitted to Gonville and Caius College as a

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on 27 June 1655 and being at once elected as a scholar of the college. He graduated

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in 1658 and proceeded to MA in 1662.

John Venn John Venn, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS, Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, FSA (4 August 1834 – 4 April 1923) was an English mathematician, logician and philosopher noted for introducing Venn diagrams, which are used in l ...

, ''Biographical History of Gonville and Caius College: Masters''
p. 110
/ref>

Life

On 2 July 1662 Halman was elected a junior

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of his college. Unusually for a Cambridge don of the period, he seems never to have taken

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, and in 1669 he failed to respond in

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, pleading an attack of

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

. Despite this, on 9 March 1671 he was elected as a senior fellow of the college, in which he lived continuously for some forty years, becoming Lecturer, Dean, Bursar, and finally Master. Beyond the confines of the college, in November 1683 he was elected as Registrary of the University, a significant office which he continued to hold until 1701, a year before his death, having been supported in the election to the post by

Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton () was an English polymath active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author. Newton was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment that followed ...

. Finally elected as Master of Caius on 24 October 1700, Halman was the twenty-third to hold the office, but presided over his college for barely two years. In 1696

Richard Bentley Richard Bentley FRS (; 27 January 1662 – 14 July 1742) was an English classical scholar, critic, and theologian. Considered the "founder of historical philology", Bentley is widely credited with establishing the English school of Hellenis ...

was given the power to establish a "new-style"

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, and in July 1697 Halman made a loan of one hundred pounds to "the Chancellor Masters and Schollars of the University... towards the printing house and presse", subsequently receiving six per cent interest on it until the loan was repaid in full on 24 October 1702. At the same time the

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made the University a loan of £200 for the same purpose. Halman was a friend of another fellow of Caius, Henry Jenkes, who died in 1697, and by a Will made in 1684 Jenkes left his library and all his other worldly goods to "my worthy friend, Mr James Halman", appointing him his sole executor and instructing him "to burn my papers, or else to publish them cum judicio et dilectu". Halman died in Caius and on 23 December 1702 was entombed in the college chapel. In 1829 a portrait of him was reported to be still in the Master's Lodge,Charles Henry Hartshorne, ''The Book Rarities in the University of Cambridge'' (1829)
p. 507
/ref> but in a history of the college published in the 1890s

said of Halman as Master that "his brief career in that capacity has left no perceptible impression behind".

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Halman, James 1630s births 1702 deaths Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Fellows of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Masters of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge People educated at Gresham's School Registraries of the University of Cambridge People from North Norfolk (district)