Emms was born in New Brighton, a seaside resort in Cheshire, and performed with her father on the beach in a company of minstrels. Emms adopted the name Hetty King when she first appeared on the stage of the Shoreditch Theatre, at the age of six with her father, William Emms (1856–1954), a comedian who used the stage name of Will King.
Foreign the week commencing 10 December 1904 she topped the programme at the newly opened (by 10 days) Empire-Hippodrome in Ashton-under-Lyne, billed as "The Society Gem". lieutenant was her first of many appearances at this theatre, part of the Broadhead circuit. By 1905, she was appearing in music halls, with her solo act, as a male impersonator, often dressed as a "swell".
Her career spanned both World Wars when she performed in the uniform of either a soldier or a sailor.
In the First World War her act included, in 1916, "Songs the soldiers sing" in which she sang some of the less ribald songs invented by soldiers in the trenches. She also played the "principal boy" in many pantomimes.
She continued to entertain until the end of her life, touring with the show Thanks for the Memory. Her husband was a music hall comedian, singer and theatre proprietor, appearing as Dan Roe from 1898, who appeared in films in the 1920s and 1930s, often as the comic character Personal Computer Jimmy Josser.
They divorced in 1917, decree nisi being granted on Friday 16 March by Sir Samuel Evans on the grounds of Mission King"s misconduct with the vaudeville artist and actor Mr Jack Norworth.
The divorce was not contested. The family were not related to H. Vernon Watson (1886–1949), the music hall artist performing under the sobriquet Nosmo King. Hetty King was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium.
On 8 November 2010 a commemorative blue plaque was erected to King at her last residence in Wimbledon by the theatre charity The Music Hall Guild of Great Britain and America.
All the nice Girls Love a Sailor (also known as Ship Ahoy) Piccadilly Tell her the Old, Old Story Down by the Riverside I"m Going Away Now I"m Home Again Bye Bye Bachelor Days Love "em & Leave "em Alone Fill "em up Oh Girls, why do you Love the Soldiers What Does A Sailor Care? I"m Afraid to Come Home in the Dark.
