Lind was born in Islington, now a part of London, England; his father, Alexander Lind, was an engraver who had fought on the British side as a Loyalist at the Battle of Bunker Hill outside Charlestown, Massachusetts near Boston in 1775.
In the late 1850s, Lind & Murdoch were selected to design the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, on behalf of financier George Peabody, who although born and raised in Massachusetts, spent a great deal of business time in New York City and London, had special regard for the city of Baltimore.