diff --git a/elasticsearch/connection/http.py b/elasticsearch/connection/http.py
index c55be9f2..9e15e43e 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/connection/http.py
+++ b/elasticsearch/connection/http.py
@@ -10,10 +10,20 @@ from .base import Connection
 from ..exceptions import ConnectionError
 
 class RequestsHttpConnection(Connection):
-    """ Connection using the `requests` library. """
-    def __init__(self, host='localhost', port=9200, **kwargs):
+    """
+    Connection using the `requests` library.
+
+    :arg http_auth: optional http auth information as either ':' separated
+        string or a tuple
+    """
+    def __init__(self, host='localhost', port=9200, http_auth=None, **kwargs):
         super(RequestsHttpConnection, self).__init__(host=host, port=port, **kwargs)
         self.session = requests.session()
+        if http_auth is not None: 
+            if not isinstance(http_auth, tuple):
+                http_auth = tuple(http_auth.split(':', 1))
+            self.session.auth = http_auth
+
 
     def perform_request(self, method, url, params=None, body=None, timeout=None):
         url = self.host + self.url_prefix + url
@@ -41,10 +51,19 @@ class RequestsHttpConnection(Connection):
 class Urllib3HttpConnection(Connection):
     """
     Default connection class using the `urllib3` library and the http protocol.
+
+    :arg http_auth: optional http auth information as either ':' separated
+        string or a tuple
     """
-    def __init__(self, host='localhost', port=9200, **kwargs):
+    def __init__(self, host='localhost', port=9200, http_auth=None, **kwargs):
         super(Urllib3HttpConnection, self).__init__(host=host, port=port, **kwargs)
-        self.pool = urllib3.HTTPConnectionPool(host, port=port, timeout=kwargs.get('timeout', None))
+        headers = {}
+        if http_auth is not None:
+            if isinstance(http_auth, (tuple, list)):
+                http_auth = ':'.join(http_auth)
+            headers = urllib3.make_headers(basic_auth=http_auth)
+
+        self.pool = urllib3.HTTPConnectionPool(host, port=port, timeout=kwargs.get('timeout', None), headers=headers)
 
     def perform_request(self, method, url, params=None, body=None, timeout=None):
         url = self.url_prefix + url
diff --git a/test_elasticsearch/test_connection.py b/test_elasticsearch/test_connection.py
index f471a54f..c1f68719 100644
--- a/test_elasticsearch/test_connection.py
+++ b/test_elasticsearch/test_connection.py
@@ -2,10 +2,20 @@ import re
 from mock import Mock, patch
 
 from elasticsearch.exceptions import TransportError
-from elasticsearch.connection import RequestsHttpConnection
+from elasticsearch.connection import RequestsHttpConnection, Urllib3HttpConnection
 
 from .test_cases import TestCase
 
+class TestUrllib3Connection(TestCase):
+    def test_http_auth(self):
+        con = Urllib3HttpConnection(http_auth='username:secret')
+        self.assertEquals({'authorization': 'Basic dXNlcm5hbWU6c2VjcmV0'}, con.pool.headers)
+
+    def test_http_auth_tuple(self):
+        con = Urllib3HttpConnection(http_auth=('username', 'secret'))
+        self.assertEquals({'authorization': 'Basic dXNlcm5hbWU6c2VjcmV0'}, con.pool.headers)
+
+
 class TestRequestsConnection(TestCase):
     def _get_mock_connection(self, connection_params={}, status_code=200, response_body=u'{}'):
         con = RequestsHttpConnection(**connection_params)
@@ -31,6 +41,14 @@ class TestRequestsConnection(TestCase):
         self.assertEquals(1, len(args))
         return args[0]
 
+    def test_http_auth(self):
+        con = RequestsHttpConnection(http_auth='username:secret')
+        self.assertEquals(('username', 'secret'), con.session.auth)
+
+    def test_http_auth_tuple(self):
+        con = RequestsHttpConnection(http_auth=('username', 'secret'))
+        self.assertEquals(('username', 'secret'), con.session.auth)
+
     def test_repr(self):
         con = self._get_mock_connection({"host": "elasticsearch.com", "port": 443})
         self.assertEquals('<RequestsHttpConnection: http://elasticsearch.com:443>', repr(con))