George Wales Lightband (1804 – 22 October 1891) was a pioneer settler in Nelson, New Zealand.

[1] They received medical advice that his wife would live for just two or three more years if they remained in England and consequently, they emigrated on the Thomas Harrison, which arrived in Nelson on 25 October 1842.

[4] Lightband had learned the tannery trade and continued this occupation in New Zealand.

Lightband travelled to Sydney, obtained a printing press and engaged the printer William Nation to come to Nelson with his family.

[2][5] Lightband selected a section on Nile Street near the Maitai River and the family camped on the land the day after their arrival.