Royal Military Academy

The Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers of the Royal Corps of Signals and other technical corps. RMA Woolwich was commonly known as "The Shop" because its first building was a converted workshop of the Woolwich Arsenal.
An attempt had been made by the Board of Ordnance in 1720 to set up an academy within its Arsenal to provide training and education for prospective officers of its new Regiment of Artillery and Corps of Engineers . A new building was being constructed in readiness for the Academy and funds had been secured, seemingly, through investment in the South Sea Company; but the latter's collapse led to plans for the Academy being placed on hold.

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