ROYAL MILITARY ACADEMY
The Royal Military Academy (RMA) 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. Until 1870 prospective officers in the British Army had to purchase their commissions, and education or training was not seen as a requirement for the role. The Board of Ordnance's establishment of a Military Academy represented a very different approach, whereby training and education were obligatory for aspiring officers of its corps, and promotion was offered to those with highest achievement in their examinations. The Royal Military Academy Woolwich closed in 1939