Kelly was a dentist with a surgery in Gallowtree Gate. He was an active member of the Independent Labour Party and the Labour Party, acting as their President. He became a magistrate in 1917 and was a member of the Town Council from 1910-1923. He was Chairman of the Leicester Municipal Technical and Art Schools Committee from 1912-1923 and a co-opted member of the Colleges of Art and Technology Committee until 1944.
This plaque was modelled in 1927 by F E C Gardner, teacher of Modelling and Carving at the College of Arts and Crafts.