Crowley had to leave Welbeck Street at the end of October 1936. “Evacuated the Doomed Bastion with flying colours”, he wrote; he often referred to the ‘doomed bastion’ when being forced to leave lodgings. He went to stay with his friend and magical student Arthur Richardson, at number 68 Warren Drive, Surbiton. “Queen of the Suburbs”, just to the south-west of London, Surbiton has a reputation for quintessentially suburban blandness that makes Crowley seem a very incongruous resident.
It was a short-term expedient and Crowley also stayed elsewhere during these weeks, including the Imperial Hotel by Russell Square, which he didn't like. Nevertheless he joined quite a domestic set-up in Warren Drive and even helped Richardson's son with his homework, although he never quite won Mrs Richardson over.
Arthur Richardson had been a member of the A∴A∴ since the 1920s, and he was serious in his studies. He also helped Crowley financially, and guaranteed the rent on his next flat at Redcliffe Gardens. It was probably money that caused a falling out, and Crowley's diary records “Richardson's amazing treachery”. In revenge Crowley seems to have attacked Mrs Richardson's morals by slipping notes under the neighbours’ doors – not his finest moment – and in December 1936 Richardson quit his A∴A∴ membership.