He was born in Mosta on 20 June 1898 to Clement Vella and his wife Carmela née Azzopardi.

[2] He was one of the youngest persons to have ever graduated as a teacher and he began his career at the Government Elementary School in Mosta.

By the age of 23, after successfully completing studies at the College of St Mary in England, Emanuel became school Headmaster in Malta.

He was the first Maltese teacher to have obtained a Board of Education Certificate, which allowed him a license to teach at any Elementary school throughout the British Empire.

Vella organised and ran a specialized training course in the Maltese language for school teachers.

Moreover, Vella introduced and organized evening courses in the English language for Maltese persons who wanted to emigrate.

Vella was a Member of the Maltese Writers Association (which founded the Akkademja tal-Malti).

They were printed in Great Britain by Headley Brothers, with some of the illustration designed by Robert Dingle, T.H.R.

He spent many years assisting Sir Themistocles Zammit with his various archaeological research, however always with a special focus on his own hometown, Mosta.

During the Second World War, Vella and his family had temporarily relocated to the town of Rabat, in St Publius Street.

Celebrated local Poet, Ninu Cremona had written a special short poem in memory of Emanuel Benjamin Vella, as follows: ‘Kien bniedem dħuli li fil-wiċċ imfaqqa’ tiegħu, b’għajnejh li minn taħt il-lenti tan-nuċċali, meta jkellmek, b’dik it-tbissima ta’ fommu, kien donnu jaqralek moħħok, kien jurik li kien bniedem imsejjaħ biex jaħdem f’kull għalqa ġdida li biha l-moħħ tal-ġenerazzjoni l-ġdida jeħtieġlu jiżżejjen.’ There are several streets in Malta named after Vella, in Mosta, Tarxien, Birkirkara.

Vella, followed in his father's academic footsteps, becoming headmaster of schools and an author of several books and poetry in his own right.