[1] He held a scholarship at The King's School, Canterbury (1903–1907) and Lincoln College, Oxford University from where he graduated in 1911 with a second class degree in modern history.
After his graduation, he qualified for the bar at the Inner Temple but instead of practicing law, ran a home for disadvantaged boys in Sydenham[2] from 1913 to 1915 and thereafter became schoolmaster at Strand School, Brixton.
Shortly after taking up his last post, he enlisted in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and served as an Able Seaman on the destroyer HMS Parker.
In 1927 he published An Oxford Hall in Medieval Times - a standard history of the college that was republished in 1968 and remained in print until 1972.
After World War II, Emden's health started to fail and he resigned his Principalship at the age of 63 and was succeeded by his Vice-Principal Rev.