The son of Henry Denby and his wife Sarah (nee Beach), Harry Emmet was born Henry William Denby in Southwark, London on 14 February 1858. While little is known about his early life, Emmet proved himself to be one of Australasia's more successful Australian-based theatre practitioners of the late-1870s and early 1880s. Harry W. Emmet, as with many of his peers, was capable of turning his hand to almost any theatrical genre, either as an actor or writer. The first record of his presence in the region was in Sydney in February 1876 when he opened with Baker and Farron at the Queen’s Theatre, playing Philip Worth in Conrad and Lizette. Later than year he toured New Zealand with Lydia Howard Troupe's and the following year went through the Dominion with Baker and Farron, and as a comedian/entertainer with the American Variety Troupe (ctd. Gibbs). His play with music, Honest Hearts, received a production at the Queen's Theatre (Sydney), beginning 22 November 1879. While Emmet's name is not mentioned in the cast list, there is the possibility that his name was misspelt as Harry Bennett (Sydney Morning Herald 22 November 1879, p.2). The play was revived by the same company in January the following year. December 1979 also saw him appear in a production of Hearts of Gold at the Theatre Royal (Melbourne).
In early 1880, Emmet and Lance Lenton collaborated on the musical play Married by Mistake, which was staged by McLean's Juvenile Troubadours in March that same year. A few months later, his play Our Village, with music by David Cope, was produced by eminent actor/managers Mr and Mrs G. B. W. Lewis. The production also starred Marion Dunn (aka Mrs Marcus Clarke). His Christmas pantomime, Jack the Giant Killer (Queen's Theatre, Sydney), premiered in December 1880. In early December the following year, Emmet was engaged by Alfred Dampier to appear with his company at the Gaiety Theatre (Sydney) under the auspices of F. M. Bayless. Emmet appeared opposite Dampier in F. R. C. Hopkins's All for Gold; Or, Fifty Millions of Money and later that same month in Michael Strogoff, as Dr Julian, an Argus correspondent. (The play was revived there in February 1882). The Dampier/Bayless season continued over the first three months of 1882, and saw Emmet cast in a diverse range of roles. These productions included Valjean, Saint or Sinner? (25 Feb.); No Mercy (4 March), an adaptation by Julian Thomas (Emmet played the role of Frank Gurney); and the Hopkins adaptation £sd (20 March). He also began to dabble in entrepreneurial activities around this time. One such event was the Ye Fayre of Ye Olden Tyme carnival held on the grounds of St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney, over the Easter weekend (Sydney Morning Herald 1 Apr. 1882, p.2). Emmet's responsibility was as general manager.
1883 saw the first staging of Emmet's four-act sensation drama Grasp; Or, A Mother's Love (written for the actor Gratton Riggs) at the Theatre Royal, Hobart (22 January). Riggs performed it later in the year at Melbourne's Princess's Theatre during a season under the managemenbt of Williamson, Garner and Musgrove (24 May). A few months later Emmet, took up an engagement with E. Majeroni at Melbourne's Bijou Theatre, appearing as Lafayette Moodle (a society fop) in the four-act 'modern comedy' An Arabian Night; or, Harlequin Alrashid and His Mother-in-Law (21 July) and as Mr Capsicum Pepper in The Strategist (11 August). He is also known to have provided an original first-part finale, 'A Bourke-Street Coffee-Stall', for Hiscocks' Federal Minstrels during the final weeks of the troupe's first-ever season together (Victoria Hall, 11-17 August). The following month, Emmet joined the Federal Minstrels in Sydney as a sketch/farce actor and stage manager. His duties also included taking on the MC position (Mr Interlocutor), while also contributing original sketches, farces, and burlesques. Several of his works were staged by Hiscocks during the year, including The Woman of the Peep-Hole; Or, The Rainbow Day and Herr-Rabian Knight, described in advertising as a 'temperance-whisky drama' (Sydney Morning Herald 15 Sept. 1883, p.2). The farce Noah's Ark, set in a Sydney boarding house, premiered on 20 October. His engagement with the Federal Minstrels, which saw him work alongside several of Australia's premiere comedians, notably W. Horace Bent, Alf Lawton, and Lou Brahm, was interrupted in early October when he appeared as Lord Reginald Egerton in the Bland Holt and Alfred Dampier company's production of Pluck, produced under the auspices of Williamson, Garner and Musgrove (Opera House, Sydney, 3 October).
Another of Emmet's pantomimes, Sinbad the Sailor, was given an extravagant production by George Rignold at the Melbourne Opera House in December 1884. The company included some of the leading local actors of the era, notably Charles H. Taylor, Ella Carrington, and Joe Tolano.
In 1885, Emmet authored and compiled a book of poems, stories and sketches titled Harry Emmet's Theatrical Holiday Book. His engagement with the Helen Vivian Dramatic Company at the Nugget Theatre (Melbourne) from around 3 October 1885 is also the last time his name has been found in relation to Australian theatre to date. During that season, he appeared in a revival of Neck for Neck and undertook the role of co-manager with Arthur Vivian.
