diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 36d94c993..12746fc39 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-
 ggplot2 1.0.1
 ----------------------------------------------------------------
 
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 7a1e12a39..b0358a6fd 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
 # ggplot2 2.1.0.9000 
 
+* `geom_boxplot` gain new `outlier.alpha` argument for controlling the alpha of
+   outlier points independently of the alpha of the boxes. 
+   Analogous to outlier.colour, outlier.shape, etc.
+   (@jonathan-g).
+
 * FP adjustment for histogram bins is now actually used - it was previously
   inadvertently ignored (#1651).
 
@@ -57,7 +62,7 @@
   
 * Minor code formatting and grammar issues in examples and function 
   parameters were fixed. (@hrbrmstr)
-  
+
 * `geom_col()` was added to complement `geom_bar()`. It uses `stat="identity"`
   by default, making the `y` aesthetic mandatory. It does not support any 
   other `stat_()` and does not provide fallback support for the `binwidth`
@@ -66,7 +71,7 @@
 
 * Fix error message of Stats ggprotos when required aesthetics are
   missing.
-  
+
 * Fix bug that resulted in several annotation_x function not getting drawn when
   global data was lacking (#1655)
 
@@ -136,9 +141,9 @@
       
     * `bins = n` now gives a histogram with `n` bins, not `n + 1` (#1487).
 
-## Bug fixes 
+## Bug fixes
 
-* All `\donttest{}` examples run. 
+* All `\donttest{}` examples run.
 
 * All `geom_()` and `stat_()` functions now have consistent argument order:
   data + mapping, then geom/stat/position, then `...`, then specific arguments, 
diff --git a/R/geom-boxplot.r b/R/geom-boxplot.r
index 94c41dffc..e10acb842 100644
--- a/R/geom-boxplot.r
+++ b/R/geom-boxplot.r
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
 #' @inheritParams geom_point
 #' @param geom,stat Use to override the default connection between
 #'   \code{geom_boxplot} and \code{stat_boxplot}.
-#' @param outlier.colour,outlier.color,outlier.shape,outlier.size,outlier.stroke
+#' @param outlier.colour,outlier.color,outlier.shape,outlier.size,outlier.stroke,outlier.alpha
 #'   Default aesthetics for outliers. Set to \code{NULL} to inherit from the
 #'   aesthetics used for the box.
 #'
@@ -67,6 +67,8 @@
 #'   geom_boxplot()
 #' ggplot(diamonds, aes(carat, price)) +
 #'   geom_boxplot(aes(group = cut_width(carat, 0.25)))
+#' ggplot(diamonds, aes(carat, price)) +
+#'   geom_boxplot(aes(group = cut_width(carat, 0.25)), outlier.alpha = 0.1)
 #'
 #' \donttest{
 #' # It's possible to draw a boxplot with your own computations if you
@@ -94,6 +96,7 @@ geom_boxplot <- function(mapping = NULL, data = NULL,
                          outlier.shape = 19,
                          outlier.size = 1.5,
                          outlier.stroke = 0.5,
+                         outlier.alpha = NULL,
                          notch = FALSE,
                          notchwidth = 0.5,
                          varwidth = FALSE,
@@ -113,6 +116,7 @@ geom_boxplot <- function(mapping = NULL, data = NULL,
       outlier.shape = outlier.shape,
       outlier.size = outlier.size,
       outlier.stroke = outlier.stroke,
+      outlier.alpha = outlier.alpha,
       notch = notch,
       notchwidth = notchwidth,
       varwidth = varwidth,
@@ -160,6 +164,7 @@ GeomBoxplot <- ggproto("GeomBoxplot", Geom,
   draw_group = function(data, panel_scales, coord, fatten = 2,
                         outlier.colour = NULL, outlier.shape = 19,
                         outlier.size = 1.5, outlier.stroke = 0.5,
+                        outlier.alpha = NULL,
                         notch = FALSE, notchwidth = 0.5, varwidth = FALSE) {
 
     common <- data.frame(
@@ -204,7 +209,7 @@ GeomBoxplot <- ggproto("GeomBoxplot", Geom,
         size = outlier.size %||% data$size[1],
         stroke = outlier.stroke %||% data$stroke[1],
         fill = NA,
-        alpha = NA,
+        alpha = outlier.alpha %||% data$alpha[1],
         stringsAsFactors = FALSE
       )
       outliers_grob <- GeomPoint$draw_panel(outliers, panel_scales, coord)
diff --git a/man/geom_boxplot.Rd b/man/geom_boxplot.Rd
index 5756fc1ab..c5d096bd3 100644
--- a/man/geom_boxplot.Rd
+++ b/man/geom_boxplot.Rd
@@ -8,8 +8,8 @@
 geom_boxplot(mapping = NULL, data = NULL, stat = "boxplot",
   position = "dodge", ..., outlier.colour = NULL, outlier.color = NULL,
   outlier.shape = 19, outlier.size = 1.5, outlier.stroke = 0.5,
-  notch = FALSE, notchwidth = 0.5, varwidth = FALSE, na.rm = FALSE,
-  show.legend = NA, inherit.aes = TRUE)
+  outlier.alpha = NULL, notch = FALSE, notchwidth = 0.5,
+  varwidth = FALSE, na.rm = FALSE, show.legend = NA, inherit.aes = TRUE)
 
 stat_boxplot(mapping = NULL, data = NULL, geom = "boxplot",
   position = "dodge", ..., coef = 1.5, na.rm = FALSE, show.legend = NA,
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ often aesthetics, used to set an aesthetic to a fixed value, like
 \code{color = "red"} or \code{size = 3}. They may also be parameters
 to the paired geom/stat.}
 
-\item{outlier.colour, outlier.color, outlier.shape, outlier.size, outlier.stroke}{Default aesthetics for outliers. Set to \code{NULL} to inherit from the
+\item{outlier.colour, outlier.color, outlier.shape, outlier.size, outlier.stroke, outlier.alpha}{Default aesthetics for outliers. Set to \code{NULL} to inherit from the
   aesthetics used for the box.
 
   In the unlikely event you specify both US and UK spellings of colour, the
@@ -137,6 +137,8 @@ ggplot(diamonds, aes(carat, price)) +
   geom_boxplot()
 ggplot(diamonds, aes(carat, price)) +
   geom_boxplot(aes(group = cut_width(carat, 0.25)))
+ggplot(diamonds, aes(carat, price)) +
+  geom_boxplot(aes(group = cut_width(carat, 0.25)), outlier.alpha = 0.1)
 
 \donttest{
 # It's possible to draw a boxplot with your own computations if you