diff --git a/CHANGELOG.txt b/CHANGELOG.txt
index 4fa2a5bb80..3717d8672e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.txt
+++ b/CHANGELOG.txt
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ Changelog
  * Fix: Page system check for on_delete actions of ForeignKeys was throwing false positives when page class decends from an abstract class (Alejandro Giacometti)
  * Fixed a regression where form builder submissions containing a number field would fail with a JSON serialisation error
  * Fix: Resizing an image with a focal point equal to the image size would result in a divide-by-zero error
+ * Fix: Elasticsearch configuration now supports specifying HTTP authentication parameters as part of the URL, and defaults to ports 80 (HTTP) and 443 (HTTPS) if port number not specified
 
 
 0.8.1 (05.11.2014)
diff --git a/docs/releases/0.8.2.rst b/docs/releases/0.8.2.rst
index 7d043e5416..41f980ed5a 100644
--- a/docs/releases/0.8.2.rst
+++ b/docs/releases/0.8.2.rst
@@ -18,3 +18,13 @@ Bug fixes
  * Page system check for on_delete actions of ForeignKeys was throwing false positives when page class decends from an abstract class (Alejandro Giacometti)
  * Fixed a regression where form builder submissions containing a number field would fail with a JSON serialisation error
  * Resizing an image with a focal point equal to the image size would result in a divide-by-zero error
+ * Elasticsearch configuration now supports specifying HTTP authentication parameters as part of the URL, and defaults to ports 80 (HTTP) and 443 (HTTPS) if port number not specified
+
+
+Upgrade considerations
+======================
+
+Port number must be specified when running Elasticsearch on port 9200
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+In previous versions, an Elasticsearch connection URL in ``WAGTAILSEARCH_BACKENDS`` without an explicit port number (e.g. ``http://localhost/``) would be treated as port 9200 (the Elasticsearch default) whereas the correct behaviour would be to use the default http/https port of 80/443. This behaviour has now been fixed, so sites running Elasticsearch on port 9200 must now specify this explicitly - e.g. ``http://localhost:9200``. (Projects using the default settings, or the settings given in the Wagtail documentation, are unaffected.)
diff --git a/wagtail/wagtailsearch/backends/elasticsearch.py b/wagtail/wagtailsearch/backends/elasticsearch.py
index 6bdc06502a..02c17ab073 100644
--- a/wagtail/wagtailsearch/backends/elasticsearch.py
+++ b/wagtail/wagtailsearch/backends/elasticsearch.py
@@ -339,11 +339,19 @@ class ElasticSearch(BaseSearch):
             for url in self.es_urls:
                 parsed_url = urlparse(url)
 
+                use_ssl = parsed_url.scheme == 'https'
+                port = parsed_url.port or (443 if use_ssl else 80)
+
+                http_auth = None
+                if parsed_url.username is not None and parsed_url.password is not None:
+                    http_auth = (parsed_url.username, parsed_url.password)
+
                 self.es_hosts.append({
                     'host': parsed_url.hostname,
-                    'port': parsed_url.port or 9200,
+                    'port': port,
                     'url_prefix': parsed_url.path,
-                    'use_ssl': parsed_url.scheme == 'https',
+                    'use_ssl': use_ssl,
+                    'http_auth': http_auth,
                 })
 
         # Get ElasticSearch interface
diff --git a/wagtail/wagtailsearch/tests/test_elasticsearch_backend.py b/wagtail/wagtailsearch/tests/test_elasticsearch_backend.py
index 5410e99430..b612f1ce3e 100644
--- a/wagtail/wagtailsearch/tests/test_elasticsearch_backend.py
+++ b/wagtail/wagtailsearch/tests/test_elasticsearch_backend.py
@@ -508,13 +508,29 @@ class TestBackendConfiguration(TestCase):
     def test_urls(self):
         # This test backwards compatibility with old URLS setting
         backend = self.ElasticSearch(params={
-            'URLS': ['http://localhost:12345', 'https://127.0.0.1:54321'],
+            'URLS': [
+                'http://localhost:12345',
+                'https://127.0.0.1:54321',
+                'http://username:password@elasticsearch.mysite.com',
+                'https://elasticsearch.mysite.com/hello',
+            ],
         })
 
-        self.assertEqual(len(backend.es_hosts), 2)
+        self.assertEqual(len(backend.es_hosts), 4)
         self.assertEqual(backend.es_hosts[0]['host'], 'localhost')
         self.assertEqual(backend.es_hosts[0]['port'], 12345)
         self.assertEqual(backend.es_hosts[0]['use_ssl'], False)
+
         self.assertEqual(backend.es_hosts[1]['host'], '127.0.0.1')
         self.assertEqual(backend.es_hosts[1]['port'], 54321)
         self.assertEqual(backend.es_hosts[1]['use_ssl'], True)
+
+        self.assertEqual(backend.es_hosts[2]['host'], 'elasticsearch.mysite.com')
+        self.assertEqual(backend.es_hosts[2]['port'], 80)
+        self.assertEqual(backend.es_hosts[2]['use_ssl'], False)
+        self.assertEqual(backend.es_hosts[2]['http_auth'], ('username', 'password'))
+
+        self.assertEqual(backend.es_hosts[3]['host'], 'elasticsearch.mysite.com')
+        self.assertEqual(backend.es_hosts[3]['port'], 443)
+        self.assertEqual(backend.es_hosts[3]['use_ssl'], True)
+        self.assertEqual(backend.es_hosts[3]['url_prefix'], '/hello')