diff --git a/Foundation/include/Poco/Timestamp.h b/Foundation/include/Poco/Timestamp.h
index f8fa0683d..8cd440337 100644
--- a/Foundation/include/Poco/Timestamp.h
+++ b/Foundation/include/Poco/Timestamp.h
@@ -106,6 +106,9 @@ public:
 	bool isElapsed(TimeDiff interval) const;
 		/// Returns true iff the given interval has passed
 		/// since the time denoted by the timestamp.
+
+   TimeVal raw() const;
+      /// Returns the raw time value.
 	
 	static Timestamp fromEpochTime(std::time_t t);
 		/// Creates a timestamp from a std::time_t.
@@ -243,6 +246,11 @@ inline void swap(Timestamp& s1, Timestamp& s2)
 	s1.swap(s2);
 }
 
+inline Timestamp::TimeVal Timestamp::raw() const
+{
+   return _ts;
+}
+
 
 } // namespace Poco