Hans Henrich Maschmann was born in Oslo, Norway. He was the son of Johan Heinrich Maschmann (1719-1785) who had re-located from Hamburg, Germany. From 1773, his father had been the owner-operator of the pharmaceutical firm, Elefantapoteket i Christiania.
In 1786, Hans Maschmann was sent to school in Hamburg which was followed three years later with a four year apprenticeship at a pharmacy in Halden in Østfold. Later he traveled to Kongsberg, where he attended lectures of the Danish chemist Nicolay Tychsen (1751-1804). In 1796, he took his examen pharmaceuticum.
When Denmark-Norway was drawn into the Napoleonic wars in 1807, the resulting British naval embargo limited the supply of goods, including pharmaceuticals.
Maschmann worked with other pharmaceutical wholesaler in the country to avoided medical shortages during these crisis years which extended until the Treaty of Kiel in 1814. Glenthoj, Rasmus; Morten Nordhagen Ottesen (2014) Experiences of War and Nationality in Denmark and Norway, 1807-1815 ( Palgrave Macmillan).
Maschmann was a member of Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters from 1825.
