Commander George MacIntosh Balfour was born in 1821 at Newcastle, Co. Limerick. He entered the Royal Navy in 1837 as a Volunteer 1st Class aboard H.M.S. Alligator and, as a Midshipman, served aboard that ship in the operations on, and off the coast of China during 1840-41. Illness, however, during the later part of 1841, obliged him to enter the hospital at Macao after which he returned to England. Passing his examinations as Mate in 1843, Balfour served variously in the West Indies, off Ireland and in the Mediterranean and was promoted to Lieutenant in 1846. In 1854 he saw service in the Baltic as Senior Lieutenant aboard H.M.S. Pylades and was promoted to Commander in 1856.