William Schaw Lindsay (19 December 1815 – 28 August 1877) was a British merchant and shipowner who was the Liberal Member of Parliament for Tynemouth and North Shields from 1854 to 1859 and for Sunderland from 1859 until his resignation on grounds of ill-health in 1864.

[3] Lindsay found further employment with Greenwell in 1841 as an agent for the Castle Eden Coal Company in Hartlepool where he played a part in the town becoming an independent port, and helped to create its docks and wharves.

In August 1859, the non-electors of Tynemouth presented Lindsay with a rosewood cabinet containing the works of Bacon, Shakespeare, Milton and Burns, "to record their gratitude for the ability with which he advocated the Public Interests in Parliament and for his Liberality in promoting education in the Borough".

His correspondence on the topic with the future Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli and the American politicians John Slidell and James Murray Mason is held at the University of Missouri Library.

[7] In his writing, Lindsay strove to improve the shipping laws, not only in England, but abroad, particularly in France and the US, and he persistently advocated the removal of all restrictions on free trade in maritime affairs.

Among his other writings were: A collection of his speeches on navy expenditure was privately printed while Lindsay related many of his sea experiences in the Log of my Leisure Hours, 3 vols., and in Recollections of a Sailor; the latter work he did not live to complete.