 As a botanist he specialised in lichens.He was born on 19 December 1829 at 20 Gardners Crescent in western Edinburgh the son of Helen Baird Lauder (1804-1883) and her husband James Lindsay of Register House/HM Sasine Office (1804-1874).He was educated at the High School in Edinburgh (being dux of 1844) then studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh receiving his doctorate (MD) in 1852 with the thesis "'The lichens"'.