Hannam Edward Albany Ward (6 November 1879 – 18 February 1966), known as Albany Ward, was a pioneer English theatre proprietor and cinema developer, who ran one of the largest cinema circuits in Britain in the early part of the twentieth century.
[1] After leaving school he joined his widowed mother in Ilfracombe, Devon, before starting work in 1896 as an assistant to pioneer filmmaker Birt Acres in High Barnet.
[1] He then joined the Velograph Company, managed by Adolphe Langfier, as a projectionist, and began touring the country with films of such events as Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.
[2] In 1898 he formed his own company and toured Wales and the south-west of England, becoming the first moving picture exhibitor in parts of the country.
He introduced offstage sound effects, such as imitations of train and battle noises, to accompany the film showings.