Born in Birmingham, Mary Linwood moved to Leicester with her family when she was nine. Her mother opened a private boarding school for young ladies in Belgrave Gate and Mary became a schoolmistress for much of her working life.

She worked her first needlework picture at the age of 13 and went on to produce a collection of 64 pictures, specialising in full size copies of old masters. These were worked in irregular and sloping stitches to resemble paint. At the age of 31, she had become sufficiently well-known to attract the attention of the royal family.

One of her own designs, the Judgement of Cain, took ten years to complete. Her subjects also included Lady Jane Grey and Napoleon, who conferred on Mary the Freedom of Paris in 1803. Mary Linwood was the most celebrated needlewoman of her age when she died in 1845.

She was buried in St. Margaret's Church, Leicester.