Harry Valentine Milnes Emerson was born Shepherds Bush, Middlesex [now London], England in 1877. As a child he moved to Australia and was educated in Hobart and Melbourne. He was articled to William Waters Eldrldge (1879-1892), Government Architect of Tasmania. He also attended Tasmania Polytechnic School in Hobart. By the late 1890s or early 1900s he had returned to England Following his arrival he worked as an assistant to Henry Joseph Hollingsworth a house and land agent in Mile End Road, Middlesex [now London], and to John Douglas Scott (1865-1950) in London.
Emerson commenced independent practice in London in 1905 and in 1908 was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA). His address was given as Belgravia Chambers, 74 Victoria Street, London in 1908 and 1914; and 11 Campbell Road, Croydon, Surrey [now London] in 1923 and 1928; and Underwood, Speer Road, Thames Ditton, Surrey in 1930 and 1936. He died in Midhurst, Sussex on 27 January 1967
Block of forty maisonnettes. Brighton; six shops, Sheen; "The Gables", Langley; Duram Factory, Hanwell; flats, Adelphi; ideal cottage for Arding & Hobos, Ideal Home Exhibition, Olympia, 1913; Clayesmore Schools, Pangbourne.
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 1: A-K. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001