THE LEICESTER MERCURY

Leicester, Leicestershire, England

28 February 1949

(page 5)

‘Worst Man’ Who Inherited

£30,000 Leaves £18

Mr. Edward Alexander (Aleister) Crowley, of Hastings, Sussex, the author, poet, explorer, magician, mystic and mountaineer, left £18/6/6, except property and effects as an author, in his will published today.

Crowley, who was 72, styled himself “The worst man in the world,” and was one of the mystery men of Europe for more than 50 years.

He was born of a Plymouth Brethren family at Leamington, Warwickshire, and was educated at Malvern and Trinity, Cambridge. While there he began his studies of “magick”—as he insisted the word should be spelt.

He inherited £30,000 and used to say that he had spent £100,000 on magic. In 1935 he went bankrupt with liabilities of £4,710. Four years later a first and final dividend of 2d. in the £ was declared.

Expelled From Italy

Crowley was expelled from Italy, where he set up the Abbey of Telema [sic] for the practice of private rituals and rites, and where he once had a cat sacrificed.

He had a “temple” in Chancery Lane, London with walls lined with mirrors, where he claimed to raise devils.

When he was cremated at Brighton, extracts were read from his book, “Magick in theory and practice.”