Lindsay was born in Scotland and received a good education. At age 18 he moved to Liverpool, where he worked for the North and South Wales Bank then the shipping firm of Rankine, Gilmour, & Co. and prospered, but was inclined to travel, and sailed to America, where he worked for a few years before leaving for South Australia on the Rialto, when he formed a friendship with George Main, whose brother owned the ship. The two formed a partnership as merchants in 1853, then joined with John Acraman in January 1855 to found Acraman, Main, Lindsay, & Co., with offices in Currie Street. The company had diverse interests, from coastal and River Murray shipping and insurance to pastoral management, having runs in the Gawler Ranges and the west of the colony. In 1869 Lindsay partially removed from the company's activities with the formation of a second company Acraman, Main, & Co., but Acraman, Main, Lindsay, & Co. continued to trade until around 1870. He was a director of the South Australian Gas Company 1870 to 1873. In 1873 he opened a business in Port Darwin and Palmerston as shipping agent and merchant, stocking a small range of foodstuffs and beverages, and agent for Adelaide Marine and Fire Assurance Co. and Mercantile Marine Insurance Co., he may also have acquired a large interest in land in the Northern Territory and gold mining at Yam Creek. The tropics did not agree with his health, and he only stayed up north a few months; he sold up in 1878. He was Secretary of the National Marine Insurance Co. of South Australia in Waymouth Street from 1877 to 1881 when it folded, and the Adelaide Life Assurance and Guarantee Company from 1879, as secretary then manager, a position he still held when he died.
Lindsay was a charter member of the first golf club founded in Adelaide, in company with David Murray, John Gordon, J. T. Turnbull, George and Joseph Boothby and around 15 others. An inaugural game of 14 holes was played on the Adelaide Racecourse on 15 May 1870, when Lindsay and John Gordon tied for first place. He never married, and his only relatives were a sister in Scotland, a brother or nephew in America, and Charles Lindsay, MHA for Flinders 1862 to 1865. His friends were few, but strong and loyal: Commissioner of PoliceWilliam John Peterswald, George Downer and John Hodgkiss. For the last thirty years of his life his home was an apartment of the Pier Hotel, Glenelg, with a balcony facing the sea. Until his last illness he never missed a morning dip in the sea, no matter whatthe weather, and every Sunday he would walk from Glenelg to Hodgkiss's place in Brighton and bring back flowers from his friend's garden.
Recognition
Point Lindsay, to the west of Streaky Bay, was named for him by Captain Douglas.
