The Royal Military Academy was founded in 1741 in Woolwich, south-east London. It was intended to provide an education and produce good officers of Artillery and perfect Engineers. RMA Woolwich was commonly known as "The Shop" because its first building was a converted workshop of the Woolwich Arsenal.

Notable teachers at Woolwich included Peter Barlow, Samuel Hunter Christie and Paul Sandby.

A second Academy was opened at Sandhurst, Berkshire in 1799 as a place to train officers.

Both were closed at the start of the Second World War in 1939. The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst opened in 1947.