Lindsay was born in Boston, Lincolnshire, and emigrated to South Australia on HMS Buffalo arriving in December 1836 in company with Governor Hindmarsh, James Hurtle Fisher (the Resident Commissioner), Osmond Gilles (Treasurer), and the Rev.
Lindsay served as the first member of the House of Assembly for the single-person electorate of Encounter Bay for the terms March 1857 – April 1860,[3] when his colleagues were Benjamin Herschel Babbage and Henry Strangways.
He argued strongly for the construction of light railways on the narrow gauge system, but received little support, though he was later largely vindicated.
[5] Lindsay married Charlotte Henrietta Leworthy (c. 1823 – 6 February 1915) on 20 July 1852; they had a farm "Edyell" in Victor Harbor.
Their children included: His brother, solicitor Richard Fydell Lindsay (c. 1819 – 13 July 1861) married Isabella Leworthy (c. 1829 – 29 March 1905).