Henri Ernest was born on 3 January 1870 in Paris; his father was a painter working in Lycée de Reims.

[2] During this period Parmentier created a detailed plan of the Temple of Saturn [ca] in Dougga to assist with its restoration.

[3] In 1900 Parmentier joined archaeologist Henri Dufour and photograph Charles Carpeaux in the Archaeological mission in Indochina (later renamed École française d'Extrême-Orient, also known as EFEO).

[1][2][3][4] The study made from the expedition trip to Đồng Dương was presented by Parmentier and Carpeaux at the Congress of the École française d'Extrême-Orient.

[4][11] His collaboration with Louis Finot and Victor Golubev [ru] on Banteay Srei, a Khmer temple complex, was published as a book in 1926.

He left his position at the École, received a title of the honorary head of the archaeological department and moved to Phnom Penh.