ROYAL MILITARY ACADEMY SANDHURST (RMAS)

The royal military academy sandhurst ( rmas ), commonly known simply as sandhurst, is the british army officer initial training centre located adjacent to the village of sandhurst, berkshire, about 55 kilometres ( 34 mi ) southwest of london. the academys stated aim is to be the national centre of excellence for leadership. all british army officers, including late entry officers who were previously warrant officers, as well as many from elsewhere in the world, are trained at sandhurst. the academy is the british army equivalent of the britannia royal naval college dartmouth, royal air force college cranwell and the commando training centre royal marines.

Location
Sandhurst straddles the counties of berkshire and surrey ; the county border marked by a small stream known as the wish stream, after which the academy journal is named. primarily, the academy is situated in college town, a suburb of sandhurst, and partly in the outer region of camberley town. the nearest railway station is blackwater, hampshire.

History
the roots of the present royal military academy sandhurst lie in two separate institutions. firstly a military academy was established at woolwich ( a district now absorbed into south-east london ) in 1720 to train cadets for commissions in the royal artillery, moving to a permanent location at woolwich common in 1806 and being granted royal status in 1841, subsequently known as the shop. in 1806, the royal military academy also took on the training of royal engineers officer cadets and, later, royal signals cadets. secondly, in 1799, a school for staff officers was established at high wycombe and in 1801 it became the senior department of the royal military college ( rmc ). 1
the concept of the royal military college was the brainchild of john le marchant. 2 he opened the junior department of the college at west street in marlow3 in 18024 to train gentleman cadets for the infantry, cavalry and indian army. 1 ( coincidentally, this was the same year as both saint-cyr5 and west point were founded. 6 ) the junior department moved from marlow in 1813, into the present buildings designed by james wyatt at sandhurst. 7 a few years later, the junior department was joined at sandhurst from high wycombe by the senior department, which in 1858 became a separate institution, the staff college. 1
on the outbreak of the second world war, sandhurst became the home of 161 infantry officer cadet training unit ( rmc ), which moved to mons barracks, aldershot in 1942 ; for the rest of the war sandhurst was used as a royal armoured corps officer cadet training unit ( octu ). 8
the royal military academy sandhurst was formed in 1947 on the site of the former royal military college at sandhurst from a merger between the royal military academy in woolwich ( which trained officers for the royal artillery and royal engineers from 1741 to 1939 ) and the royal military college ( 1802 to 1939 ). 9 following the ending of national service in the uk and the closing of the mons officer cadet school in aldershot ( which had trained short service commissioned officers ) in 1972, the rmas became the sole establishment for male initial officer training in the british army. 10 in 1984, the womens officer training college bagshot moved to sandhurst and in 1992 a new commissioning course finally unified the training of male, female and foreign cadets. 1

marlborough room showing tryptych on leather of the battle of blenheim by horensburg rmas collection
the royal military academy sandhurst collection shows the history of the royal military academy, woolwich, the royal military college and the royal military academy, sandhurst. the collection includes the royal military academys gentlemen cadet registers, historic archive, uniforms, paintings, photographs and other artefacts. 11
for the 1948 summer olympics in london, the academy hosted the running part of the modern pentathlon competition. 12
training at sandhurst was the subject of a three part television series, first broadcast by the bbc in october, 2011 ( rebroadcast in april 2012 ).
in february, 2013, sandhurst accepted a donation of £3, 000, 000 from bahrain. in return, the mons hall, which had been named in honour of the heroes13 who fell in the battle of mons, was renamed the king hamad hall, in honour of the king of bahrain. 14

Selection
potential officers are identified by the army officer selection board ( formerly the regular commissions board, or rcb ) situated in westbury in wiltshire. 15 nearly 10 percent of british cadets are female and nearly 10 percent of all cadets come from overseas. more than eighty percent of entrants are university graduates although it is not required. 16 some officer cadets are serving soldiers. technically, all cadets have the rank of private.