For anyone interested, we discovered who the man in the photo was. You were right, Bee, in guessing that he was a well-known philanthropist. His name was Josiah Mason who, at one point in the mid-late 19th century, was the biggest pen-maker in the world. He lived and worked in the Birmingham area, which is where the family lived too, and, interestingly, Richard Hipkiss, my husband's 2xgt grandfather who is also in the album, was a pen-maker by trade.

Anyway, Josiah Mason endowed almshouses and orphanages, there is still a Josiah Mason Trust,and he also built a college which later became part of Birmingham University. I still don't know why the phrase on the back of the photo is in French. I'd also like to know why his photo is in the family album...oh well

Love Lynne