The holotype consisted of a skull, mandibles with most of the front region missing, the first four cervical vertebrae complete with atlas-axis complex, rib fragments, and dermal ossifications.

Van Hoepen found the fossil in rocks associated with the Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone near the town Prince Albert in the Western Cape.

Both known Elliotsmithia fossils were recovered from rock deposits of the Middle Permian Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone, Abrahamskraal Formation of the Beaufort Group.

Elliotsmithia is an extremely important fossil species as it provides proof of the cosmopolitan range of basal varanopseid synapsids, especially within Gondwana where therapsids were the dominant fauna.

Recent paleobiology analyses of its cranial bones confidently places this basal synapsid as a sister taxon to the varanopid clade composed of Varanops, Aerosaurus, and Varanodon from North America.