Richard Dunston was a shipbuilder on the Humber, England. The company started building wooden barges miles from the sea in Hessle and evolved to pioneer fully welded steel ships of a single design. Ayard was opened closer to the sea in Thorne.
In 1974 the Dunston family sold the Hessle and Thorne yards to the Ingram Corporation of America and the yards remained American owned until 1985, when they were put up for sale again. The Thorne yard was closed down as it was not financially viable and the Hessle yard was part of a management buy out funded by Dutch capital.
The yard went into liquidation on 9th December 1994. Although the outfitting quays have closed down, the name continues to operate in repair business