Lindsay was educated at Strathroy District Collegiate Institute (along with Arthur William Currie) and later enrolled at the Royal Military College of Canada.

Lindsay was one of the original officers of the Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers.

During the First World War, he served as Chief Engineer of the Canadian Corps and was responsible for a major reorganization of the engineering component of the corps that proved particularly helpful in the Hundred Days Offensive near the end of the War.

[2] Following the war Lindsay went to Alberta and became an early advocate of the commercial and industrial development of the tar sands.

[2] He died of a heart attack at Toronto Hunt Club on 27 June 1933 and is buried at Strathroy Municipal Cemetery.