diff --git a/cplusplus/include/vips/VImage8.h b/cplusplus/include/vips/VImage8.h
index 2577dfad..ee96ac60 100644
--- a/cplusplus/include/vips/VImage8.h
+++ b/cplusplus/include/vips/VImage8.h
@@ -917,6 +917,22 @@ public:
 		return( new_from_image( to_vectorv( 1, pixel ) ) ); 
 	}
 
+	static VImage 
+	new_from_memory_steal( void *data, size_t size,
+		int width, int height, int bands, VipsBandFormat format )
+	{
+		VipsImage *image;
+
+		if( !(image = vips_image_new_from_memory( data, size, 
+			width, height, bands, format )) )
+			throw( VError() );
+
+		g_signal_connect( image, "postclose",
+			G_CALLBACK(vips_image_free_buffer), data);
+
+		return( VImage( image ) ); 
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Make a new image by rendering self to a large memory area, 
 	 * wrapping a VImage around it, and copying all metadata over from 
diff --git a/libvips/include/vips/image.h b/libvips/include/vips/image.h
index a73f565b..483cdeee 100644
--- a/libvips/include/vips/image.h
+++ b/libvips/include/vips/image.h
@@ -524,6 +524,8 @@ int vips_reorder_prepare_many( VipsImage *image,
 	VipsRegion **regions, VipsRect *r );
 void vips_reorder_margin_hint( VipsImage *image, int margin );
 
+void vips_image_free_buffer( VipsImage *image, void *buffer );
+
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 }
 #endif /*__cplusplus*/
diff --git a/libvips/iofuncs/image.c b/libvips/iofuncs/image.c
index 2516351d..893768a7 100644
--- a/libvips/iofuncs/image.c
+++ b/libvips/iofuncs/image.c
@@ -3872,6 +3872,20 @@ vips_band_format_iscomplex( VipsBandFormat format )
 	}
 }
 
+/**
+ * vips_image_free_buffer:
+ * @image: the image that contains the buffer
+ * @buffer: the orignal buffer that was stolen
+ *
+ * Free the externally allocated buffer found in the input image. This function
+ * is intened to be used with g_signal_connect.
+ */
+void
+vips_image_free_buffer( VipsImage *image, void *buffer )
+{
+	free( buffer );
+}
+
 /* Handy for debugging: view an image in nip2.
  */
 int