Then, from 1805 to 1939 it was housed in buildings to the north on Woolwich Common. In 1946, it was merged to form the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

The Academy was authorised by the Board of Ordnance in 1720 and took in the first cadets in 1721. In 1741 the Academy was put on a firmer basis with a Royal Warrant and in 1746 was granted a Royal Charter by King George II.

In 1805, the cadets were first moved into a converted workshop, and the RMA Woolwich became known to generations of officers as "The Shop", giving the English language the expression "talking shop".

The traditions begun and standards set in the Old Royal Military Academy in Woolwich in the 18th Century are carried through to today as the core values of military education and standards in Britain and in many other countries.