diff --git a/nodes/core/io/21-httpin.html b/nodes/core/io/21-httpin.html
index 7926fc57c..cc2080823 100644
--- a/nodes/core/io/21-httpin.html
+++ b/nodes/core/io/21-httpin.html
@@ -152,6 +152,7 @@
         <li><code>statusCode</code> is the status code of the response, or the error code if the request could not be completed</li>
         <li><code>headers</code> is an object containing the response headers</li>
     </ul>
+    <p><b>Note</b>: See the <i>settings.js</i> file if you need to configure a proxy.</p>
 </script>
 
 <script type="text/javascript">
@@ -199,9 +200,9 @@
                 $("#node-input-path").html(root);
                 $("#node-input-tip").show();
             }
-			if(!RED.nodes.getType("swagger-doc")){
-				$('.row-swagger-doc').hide();
-			}
+            if(!RED.nodes.getType("swagger-doc")){
+                $('.row-swagger-doc').hide();
+            }
         }
 
     });
diff --git a/nodes/core/io/21-httpin.js b/nodes/core/io/21-httpin.js
index c17e22a4a..8b8493bf4 100644
--- a/nodes/core/io/21-httpin.js
+++ b/nodes/core/io/21-httpin.js
@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@ module.exports = function(RED) {
                 return;
             }
             // url must start http:// or https:// so assume http:// if not set
-            if (!((url.indexOf("http://")===0) || (url.indexOf("https://")===0))) {
+            if (!((url.indexOf("http://") === 0) || (url.indexOf("https://") === 0))) {
                 url = "http://"+url;
             }
 
@@ -243,7 +243,18 @@ module.exports = function(RED) {
                     opts.headers['content-length'] = Buffer.byteLength(payload);
                 }
             }
-            var req = ((/^https/.test(url))?https:http).request(opts,function(res) {
+            var urltotest = url;
+            if (RED.settings.httpNodeProxy) {
+                var proxy = RED.settings.httpNodeProxy.host;
+                opts.protocol = "http:";
+                opts.headers['Host'] = opts.host;
+                opts.host = opts.hostname = proxy;
+                opts.port = RED.settings.httpNodeProxy.port || opts.port;
+                if (opts.port) { opts.host = opts.host+":"+opts.port; }
+                opts.path = opts.pathname = opts.href;
+                urltotest = proxy;
+            }
+            var req = ((/^https/.test(urltotest))?https:http).request(opts,function(res) {
                 (node.ret === "bin") ? res.setEncoding('binary') : res.setEncoding('utf8');
                 msg.statusCode = res.statusCode;
                 msg.headers = res.headers;
diff --git a/settings.js b/settings.js
index 0780e1e30..802c44d5a 100644
--- a/settings.js
+++ b/settings.js
@@ -120,7 +120,11 @@ module.exports = {
     //    origin: "*",
     //    methods: "GET,PUT,POST,DELETE"
     //},
-    
+
+    // The following property can be used to configure a proxy for use by the
+    // http request node.
+    //httpNodeProxy : { host:"myproxy.acme.com", port:8080 },
+
     // Anything in this hash is globally available to all functions.
     // It is accessed as context.global.
     // eg: