diff --git a/include/wx/msw/private/webrequest_winhttp.h b/include/wx/msw/private/webrequest_winhttp.h
index a722289822..3851e7f209 100644
--- a/include/wx/msw/private/webrequest_winhttp.h
+++ b/include/wx/msw/private/webrequest_winhttp.h
@@ -93,6 +93,11 @@ public:
 
     HINTERNET GetHandle() const { return m_request; }
 
+    wxWebRequestHandle GetNativeHandle() const wxOVERRIDE
+    {
+        return (wxWebRequestHandle)GetHandle();
+    }
+
 private:
     wxWebSessionWinHTTP& m_sessionImpl;
     wxString m_url;
@@ -137,6 +142,11 @@ public:
 
     HINTERNET GetHandle() const { return m_handle; }
 
+    wxWebSessionHandle GetNativeHandle() const wxOVERRIDE
+    {
+        return (wxWebSessionHandle)GetHandle();
+    }
+
 private:
     HINTERNET m_handle;
 
diff --git a/include/wx/osx/private/webrequest_urlsession.h b/include/wx/osx/private/webrequest_urlsession.h
index 4ecf0a6abf..68a1210c9a 100644
--- a/include/wx/osx/private/webrequest_urlsession.h
+++ b/include/wx/osx/private/webrequest_urlsession.h
@@ -102,6 +102,11 @@ public:
 
     wxFileOffset GetBytesExpectedToReceive() const wxOVERRIDE;
 
+    wxWebRequestHandle GetNativeHandle() const wxOVERRIDE
+    {
+        return (wxWebRequestHandle)m_task;
+    }
+
     void HandleCompletion();
 
     void HandleChallenge(wxWebAuthChallengeURLSession* challenge);
@@ -139,6 +144,11 @@ public:
 
     wxVersionInfo GetLibraryVersionInfo() wxOVERRIDE;
 
+    wxWebSessionHandle GetNativeHandle() const wxOVERRIDE
+    {
+        return (wxWebSessionHandle)m_session;
+    }
+
     WX_NSURLSession GetSession() { return m_session; }
 
     WX_wxWebSessionDelegate GetDelegate() { return m_delegate; }
diff --git a/include/wx/private/webrequest.h b/include/wx/private/webrequest.h
index ab58725167..95588feba3 100644
--- a/include/wx/private/webrequest.h
+++ b/include/wx/private/webrequest.h
@@ -92,6 +92,8 @@ public:
 
     virtual wxFileOffset GetBytesExpectedToReceive() const;
 
+    virtual wxWebRequestHandle GetNativeHandle() const = 0;
+
     void SetState(wxWebRequest::State state, const wxString& failMsg = wxString());
 
     void ReportDataReceived(size_t sizeReceived);
@@ -222,6 +224,8 @@ public:
 
     const wxWebRequestHeaderMap& GetHeaders() const { return m_headers; }
 
+    virtual wxWebSessionHandle GetNativeHandle() const = 0;
+
 protected:
     wxWebSessionImpl();
 
diff --git a/include/wx/private/webrequest_curl.h b/include/wx/private/webrequest_curl.h
index ac3e53634b..5229db7bc2 100644
--- a/include/wx/private/webrequest_curl.h
+++ b/include/wx/private/webrequest_curl.h
@@ -64,6 +64,11 @@ public:
 
     CURL* GetHandle() const { return m_handle; }
 
+    wxWebRequestHandle GetNativeHandle() const wxOVERRIDE
+    {
+        return (wxWebRequestHandle)GetHandle();
+    }
+
     bool StartRequest();
 
     void HandleCompletion();
@@ -133,6 +138,11 @@ public:
 
     wxVersionInfo GetLibraryVersionInfo() wxOVERRIDE;
 
+    wxWebSessionHandle GetNativeHandle() const wxOVERRIDE
+    {
+        return (wxWebSessionHandle)m_handle;
+    }
+
     bool StartRequest(wxWebRequestCURL& request);
 
     void CancelRequest(wxWebRequestCURL* request);
diff --git a/include/wx/webrequest.h b/include/wx/webrequest.h
index ac69374a21..be4cec2a15 100644
--- a/include/wx/webrequest.h
+++ b/include/wx/webrequest.h
@@ -45,6 +45,9 @@ class wxWebResponse;
 class wxWebSession;
 class wxWebSessionFactory;
 
+typedef struct wxWebRequestHandleOpaque* wxWebRequestHandle;
+typedef struct wxWebSessionHandleOpaque* wxWebSessionHandle;
+
 class wxWebAuthChallengeImpl;
 class wxWebRequestImpl;
 class wxWebResponseImpl;
@@ -183,6 +186,8 @@ public:
 
     wxFileOffset GetBytesExpectedToReceive() const;
 
+    wxWebRequestHandle GetNativeHandle() const;
+
 private:
     // Ctor is only used by wxWebSession.
     friend class wxWebSession;
@@ -230,6 +235,8 @@ public:
 
     void Close();
 
+    wxWebSessionHandle GetNativeHandle() const;
+
 private:
     static void RegisterFactory(const wxString& backend,
                                 wxWebSessionFactory* factory);
diff --git a/interface/wx/webrequest.h b/interface/wx/webrequest.h
index 11e592eebc..10c4ef2e16 100644
--- a/interface/wx/webrequest.h
+++ b/interface/wx/webrequest.h
@@ -207,10 +207,25 @@ public:
     /**
         Check if the object is valid.
 
-        No other methods can be used if this function returns @false.
+        If the object is invalid, it must be assigned a valid request before
+        any other methods can be used (with the exception of GetNativeHandle()).
     */
     bool IsOk() const;
 
+    /**
+        Return the native handle corresponding to this request object.
+
+        @c wxWebRequestHandle is an opaque type containing a value of the
+        following type according to the backend being used:
+
+        - For WinHTTP backend, this is @c HINTERNET request handle.
+        - For CURL backend, this is a @c CURL struct pointer.
+        - For macOS backend, this is @c NSURLSessionTask object pointer.
+
+        @see wxWebSession::GetNativeHandle()
+     */
+    wxWebRequestHandle GetNativeHandle() const;
+
     /**
         Send the request to the server asynchronously.
 
@@ -692,6 +707,20 @@ public:
     */
     static bool IsBackendAvailable(const wxString& backend);
 
+    /**
+        Return the native handle corresponding to this session object.
+
+        @c wxWebSessionHandle is an opaque type containing a value of the
+        following type according to the backend being used:
+
+        - For WinHTTP backend, this is @c HINTERNET session handle.
+        - For CURL backend, this is a @c CURLM struct pointer.
+        - For macOS backend, this is @c NSURLSession object pointer.
+
+        @see wxWebRequest::GetNativeHandle()
+     */
+    wxWebSessionHandle GetNativeHandle() const;
+
     /**
         Return true if the session was successfully opened and can be used.
     */
diff --git a/src/common/webrequest.cpp b/src/common/webrequest.cpp
index dcfaeabb55..7d77112a82 100644
--- a/src/common/webrequest.cpp
+++ b/src/common/webrequest.cpp
@@ -463,6 +463,11 @@ wxFileOffset wxWebRequest::GetBytesExpectedToReceive() const
     return m_impl->GetBytesExpectedToReceive();
 }
 
+wxWebRequestHandle wxWebRequest::GetNativeHandle() const
+{
+    return m_impl ? m_impl->GetNativeHandle() : NULL;
+}
+
 
 //
 // wxWebAuthChallenge
@@ -931,6 +936,11 @@ void wxWebSession::Close()
     m_impl.reset(NULL);
 }
 
+wxWebSessionHandle wxWebSession::GetNativeHandle() const
+{
+    return m_impl ? m_impl->GetNativeHandle() : NULL;
+}
+
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // Module ensuring all global/singleton objects are destroyed on shutdown.
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/tests/net/webrequest.cpp b/tests/net/webrequest.cpp
index 6e12f57036..8e9db16321 100644
--- a/tests/net/webrequest.cpp
+++ b/tests/net/webrequest.cpp
@@ -144,6 +144,33 @@ TEST_CASE_METHOD(RequestFixture,
     CHECK( request.GetBytesReceived() == 65536 );
 }
 
+TEST_CASE_METHOD(RequestFixture,
+                 "WebRequest::Get::Simple", "[net][webrequest][get]")
+{
+    if ( !InitBaseURL() )
+        return;
+
+    // Note that the session may be initialized on demand, so don't check the
+    // native handle before actually using it.
+    wxWebSession& session = wxWebSession::GetDefault();
+    REQUIRE( session.IsOpened() );
+
+    // Request is not initialized yet.
+    CHECK( !request.IsOk() );
+    CHECK( !request.GetNativeHandle() );
+
+    Create("/status/200");
+    CHECK( request.IsOk() );
+    CHECK( session.GetNativeHandle() );
+
+    // Note that the request must be started to have a valid native handle.
+    request.Start();
+    CHECK( request.GetNativeHandle() );
+    RunLoopWithTimeout();
+    CHECK( request.GetState() == wxWebRequest::State_Completed );
+    CHECK( request.GetResponse().GetStatus() == 200 );
+}
+
 TEST_CASE_METHOD(RequestFixture,
                  "WebRequest::Get::String", "[net][webrequest][get]")
 {