Lewis Balson was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire on 11 September 1913, the son of Lewis Frederick and Edith Annie Balson (née Smith). He joined the Royal Navy as an Engine Room Artificer Apprentice in 1928. and at the time of the 1939 Register, Lewis Balson was listed as a Chief Petty Officer (Artificer) serving in the surveying ship HMS CHALLENGER, which had recommissioned at Portsmouth on 9 September 1937.

He was promoted to Acting Warrant Engineer on 1 August 1942 and was appointed to the Submarine Depot Ship HMS MAIDSTONE at Gibraltar ‘for Submarines‘. On 15 January 1943 he was appointed HMS SIMOOM as the Engineer. SIMOOM sailed from Port Said in Egypt on 2 November 1943 for a patrol in the Aegean with orders to return to base on 19 November. The submarine failed to return as ordered and was declared overdue and then as lost with all hands.

Lewis Balson was the husband of Vera Lilian Balson (née Byrne). He is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial on Panel No. 73 Column No. 1.