The original Chelsea crest, adopted when the club was founded in 1905, was the image of a Chelsea pensioner. These were army veterans who lived at the local Royal Hospital Chelsea. The image gave the club its first nickname: “Pensioners”.
The emblem was kept for the next half-century, though it was never used on the shirts. When Ted Drake became Chelsea manager in 1952, and started to modernise the club, he believed the Chelsea pensioner crest was old-fashioned and had it changed.
