diff --git a/libs/gtkmm2ext/actions.cc b/libs/gtkmm2ext/actions.cc
index 25d2ca148c..1b772757bc 100644
--- a/libs/gtkmm2ext/actions.cc
+++ b/libs/gtkmm2ext/actions.cc
@@ -360,6 +360,18 @@ ActionManager::create_action_group (void * owner, string const & name)
 	return g;
 }
 
+RefPtr<ActionGroup>
+ActionManager::get_action_group (string const & name)
+{
+	for (ActionGroups::iterator g = groups.begin(); g != groups.end(); ++g) {
+		if ((*g)->get_name () == name) {
+			return *g;
+		}
+	}
+
+	return RefPtr<ActionGroup> ();
+}
+
 RefPtr<Action>
 ActionManager::register_action (RefPtr<ActionGroup> group, const char* name, const char* label)
 {
diff --git a/libs/gtkmm2ext/gtkmm2ext/actions.h b/libs/gtkmm2ext/gtkmm2ext/actions.h
index 6bb56adaee..780c846d58 100644
--- a/libs/gtkmm2ext/gtkmm2ext/actions.h
+++ b/libs/gtkmm2ext/gtkmm2ext/actions.h
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ namespace ActionManager {
 	LIBGTKMM2EXT_API extern void disable_active_actions ();
 
 	LIBGTKMM2EXT_API extern Glib::RefPtr<Gtk::ActionGroup> create_action_group (void * owner, std::string const & group_name);
+	LIBGTKMM2EXT_API extern Glib::RefPtr<Gtk::ActionGroup> get_action_group (std::string const & group_name);
 
 	LIBGTKMM2EXT_API extern Glib::RefPtr<Gtk::Action> register_action (Glib::RefPtr<Gtk::ActionGroup> group, const char* name, const char* label);
 	LIBGTKMM2EXT_API extern Glib::RefPtr<Gtk::Action> register_action (Glib::RefPtr<Gtk::ActionGroup> group,