He was educated at Eton, then admitted to King's College, Cambridge, on 21 November 1836, matriculating in the Lent term of 1837.
Questioned by the Clarendon Commission on 9 July 1862, Balston came under attack for his view that in the classroom little time could be spared for subjects other than classical studies.
[4] Lord Clarendon said to him - Nothing can be worse than this state of things, when we find modern languages, geography, history, chronology and everything else which a well-educated English gentleman ought to know given up in order that the full time should be devoted to the classics; and, at the same time, we are told that the boys go up to Oxford, not only not proficient, but in a lamentable deficiency in respect of the classics.
It remained his view that in most lower forms of the school the boys' time should be devoted entirely to classical studies.
[2] In 1850 Balston married Harriet Anne, a daughter of Thomas Carter, Fellow of Eton College.