Deserters, acts of heroism, and IRA murders unearthed

The lives of more than 2,000 soldiers and their families in one town over a century have been revealed through research using church and other archives.

Details of deserters, acts of heroism and men killed in the Irish revolution are dotted throughout the new online database of men who served at Ballincollig military barracks in Co Cork.

It was home to a number of different regiments from the early 19th century through to the earliest months of Irish independence almost a century ago.