Frank Smith, Lecturer in Education at University College, Aberystwyth [Wales], researched and wrote the first biography of Sir James Kay-Shuttleworth, The Life and Work of Sir James Kay-Shuttleworth (1923). The biography contains an introduction by educationist Sir Michael Sadler, then Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leeds, and a concluding chapter by Sir Ughtred James Kay-Shuttleworth, the eldest son of Sir James.
Smith subsequently became a Professor in the Department of Education at the University of Leeds.