Maunsell was born in
Dublin in about 1750. Her parents were Dorothy and Thomas Maunsell. and owned land in Waterford and Limerick. Maunsell was brought up in Molesworth Street in Dublin. She had seven siblings; “all the brothers did well and her sisters all married well - and then there was Dorothea”. Much of the detail of Maunsell’s life comes from a publication titled "The True and Genuine Narrative of Mr and Mrs Tenducci: in a Letter to a Friend at Bath" which was published in 1768. According to this source, she took music lessons from Tenducci. ==Death and legacy==