[2][3] A musical entrepreneur, she developed a subscription list of several hundred people and sold at least two of her compositions (Comala and Seringapatam) to subscribers.
She moved to London in the 1780s,[5] where she socialized with music historian Charles Burney, who commented that he knew of no female contrapuntist in Europe who could surpass Wainwright.
In 1801, she married Captain John Stewart of the East India Company's Bengal Army, who eventually became a lieutenant colonel.
Richard, Marquis of Wellesley, Governor of India, published an "appreciation" of the work in the Calcutta Post on 27 April 1804.
An unidentified admirer sent Wainwright a poem about the British victory at Seringapatam (see Srirangapatna), and suggested that she set it to music.