Sergeant Alexander Forbes is a Scottish Gaelic bard who lived
in Perthshire in the early nineteenth century. Almost nothing is known about him apart from his military service. This marbh-rann for his lt-col,Patrick MacLeod of Geanies, doubles the bard's certainly known output. It had lain unread for decades in the holdings of the National Library of Scotland on
George 1V Bridge in Edinburgh. Perthshire Gaelic was vulnerable to forces for economic and cultural change earlier than most fringe parts of the Gaidhealtachd.