Elvira Enid Barney (née Mullens; 22 January 1904 – 25 December 1936) was an English socialite and actress known professionally as Dolores Ashley.

[2][1] In 1931, Elvira moved to 21 William Mews, Knightsbridge, London, sharing the home with Henry Mervyn Pearce.

Among the guests were Arthur Jeffress, Hugh Armigel Wade, Sylvia Coke, Denys Skeffington Smyth, Brian Howard, Anton Altmann, Irene MacBrayne, Arthur Streek, and Olivia Wyndham and her then-girlfriend Ruth Baldwin, a longtime companion of Joe Carstairs, and Edward Gathorne-Hardy.

[citation needed] The following morning, Stephen died of bullet wounds and Barney was arrested and charged with murder.

Altmann, Howard, MacBrayne, Coke, Streek, Fester, and Skeffington-Smyth also gave statements, some of which were read in court.

[4] Barney believed the profligate socialite Agatha Runcible in Evelyn Waugh's Vile Bodies was based on her.