diff --git a/quickfixj-base/src/main/java/quickfix/IMessage.java b/quickfixj-base/src/main/java/quickfix/IMessage.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c1e58402c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/quickfixj-base/src/main/java/quickfix/IMessage.java
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+package quickfix;
+
+import java.time.LocalDateTime;
+
+/**
+ * Interface for FIX message implementations.
+ * The standard concrete implementation is {@link Message}
+ */
+public interface IMessage {
+
+    String toRawString();
+
+    boolean isAdmin();
+    String getHeaderString(int field) throws FieldNotFound;
+    int getHeaderInt(int field) throws FieldNotFound;
+
+    void setHeaderString(int field, String value);
+
+    void setString(int tag, String value);
+
+    void setHeaderInt(int field, int value);
+
+    void setInt(int tag, int value);
+
+    void setHeaderUtcTimeStamp(int field, LocalDateTime localDateTime, UtcTimestampPrecision timestampPrecision);
+
+    boolean isSetField(int field);
+
+    boolean getBoolean(int field) throws FieldNotFound;
+
+    boolean isSetHeaderField(int field);
+
+    int getInt(int tag) throws FieldNotFound;
+
+    String getString(int tag) throws FieldNotFound;
+
+    void removeHeaderField(int field);
+
+    /**
+     * Provides the first error found while parsing the message
+     * May indicate the resulting data is only a partial copy of the raw string **/
+    FieldException getException();
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/quickfixj-base/src/main/java/quickfix/Message.java b/quickfixj-base/src/main/java/quickfix/Message.java
index ecdc9d649d..c1ae0369d2 100644
--- a/quickfixj-base/src/main/java/quickfix/Message.java
+++ b/quickfixj-base/src/main/java/quickfix/Message.java
@@ -67,12 +67,13 @@
 import javax.xml.transform.stream.StreamResult;
 import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
 import java.text.DecimalFormat;
+import java.time.LocalDateTime;
 import java.util.List;
 
 /**
  * Represents a FIX message.
  */
-public class Message extends FieldMap {
+public class Message extends FieldMap implements IMessage  {
 
     static final long serialVersionUID = -3193357271891865972L;
 
@@ -436,6 +437,30 @@ public final Header getHeader() {
         return header;
     }
 
+    public final int getHeaderInt(int field) throws FieldNotFound {
+        return header.getInt(field);
+    }
+
+    public final void setHeaderInt(int field, int value) {
+        header.setInt(field, value);
+    }
+
+    public final String getHeaderString(int field) throws FieldNotFound {
+        return header.getString(field);
+    }
+
+    public final void setHeaderString(int field, String value) {
+        header.setString(field, value);
+    }
+
+    public final void setHeaderUtcTimeStamp(int field, LocalDateTime value, UtcTimestampPrecision timestampPrecision) {
+        header.setUtcTimeStamp(field, value, timestampPrecision);
+    }
+
+    public final void removeHeaderField(int field) {
+        header.removeField(field);
+    }
+
     public final Trailer getTrailer() {
         return trailer;
     }
diff --git a/quickfixj-base/src/main/java/quickfix/SimpleMessage.java b/quickfixj-base/src/main/java/quickfix/SimpleMessage.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fb2d52ce3a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/quickfixj-base/src/main/java/quickfix/SimpleMessage.java
@@ -0,0 +1,270 @@
+package quickfix;
+
+import quickfix.field.BodyLength;
+import quickfix.field.CheckSum;
+import quickfix.field.MsgType;
+import quickfix.field.SessionRejectReason;
+import quickfix.field.converter.BooleanConverter;
+import quickfix.field.converter.IntConverter;
+import quickfix.field.converter.UtcTimestampConverter;
+
+import java.time.LocalDateTime;
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.stream.Collectors;
+
+/**
+ * SimpleMessage is designed to allow sending complex messages (e.g. repeating groups) of an arbitrary format *without* parsing the structure.
+ * Use cases include messages stored and then later sent.
+ */
+public class SimpleMessage implements IMessage {
+    private static final List<Integer> STRICT_ORDERING = Arrays.asList(new Integer[]{8, 9, 35});
+    private static final String SOH = String.valueOf('\001');
+    private static final String BODY_LENGTH_FIELD = SOH + String.valueOf(BodyLength.FIELD) + '=';
+    private static final String CHECKSUM_FIELD = SOH + String.valueOf(CheckSum.FIELD) + '=';
+    private final String messageData;
+
+    public static class TagPair {
+        public final int tag;
+        public String value;
+
+        public TagPair(int tag, String value) {
+            this.tag = tag;
+            this.value = value;
+        }
+
+        public String asString() {
+            return tag+"="+value+SOH;
+        }
+    }
+
+    private final List<TagPair> fields;
+
+    public SimpleMessage(String message) {
+        messageData = message;
+        fields = Arrays.stream(message.split("\u0001")).map(p -> {
+            String[] pairData = p.split("=", 2);
+            return new TagPair(Integer.parseInt(pairData[0]), pairData[1]);
+        }).collect(Collectors.toList());
+    }
+
+    public List<TagPair> getFields() {
+        return fields;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public String toString() {
+        setHeaderString(BodyLength.FIELD, "100");
+        setString(10, "000");
+        StringBuilder messageString = buildMessageString();
+        setBodyLength(messageString);
+        setChecksum(messageString);
+        return messageString.toString();
+    }
+
+    private static void setBodyLength(StringBuilder stringBuilder) {
+        int bodyLengthIndex = stringBuilder.indexOf(BODY_LENGTH_FIELD, 0);
+        int sohIndex = stringBuilder.indexOf(SOH, bodyLengthIndex + 1);
+        int checkSumIndex = stringBuilder.lastIndexOf(CHECKSUM_FIELD);
+        int length = checkSumIndex - sohIndex;
+        bodyLengthIndex += BODY_LENGTH_FIELD.length();
+        stringBuilder.replace(bodyLengthIndex, bodyLengthIndex + 3, NumbersCache.get(length));
+    }
+
+    private static void setChecksum(StringBuilder stringBuilder) {
+        int checkSumIndex = stringBuilder.lastIndexOf(CHECKSUM_FIELD);
+        int checkSum = 0;
+        for(int i = checkSumIndex; i-- != 0;)
+            checkSum += stringBuilder.charAt(i);
+        String checkSumValue = NumbersCache.get((checkSum + 1) & 0xFF); // better than sum % 256 since it avoids overflow issues
+        checkSumIndex += CHECKSUM_FIELD.length();
+        stringBuilder.replace(checkSumIndex + (3 - checkSumValue.length()), checkSumIndex + 3, checkSumValue);
+    }
+
+    private StringBuilder buildMessageString() {
+        StringBuilder message = new StringBuilder();
+        //Print strict order tags
+        for (Integer integer : STRICT_ORDERING) {
+            TagPair tagPair = getField(integer);
+            if (tagPair != null) {
+                message.append(tagPair.asString());
+            }
+        }
+        //Print unclaimed tags
+        for (TagPair tagPair : fields) {
+            if (tagPair.tag != 10 && !STRICT_ORDERING.contains(tagPair.tag)) {
+                message.append(tagPair.asString());
+            }
+        }
+        //Print footer tag
+        TagPair footer = getField(10);
+        if (footer != null) {
+            message.append(footer.asString());
+        }
+        return message;
+    }
+
+    private TagPair getField(int tag) {
+        for (TagPair field : fields) {
+            if (field.tag == tag) {
+                return field;
+            }
+        }
+        return null;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public String toRawString() {
+        return messageData;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean isAdmin() {
+        if (isSetHeaderField(MsgType.FIELD)) {
+            try {
+                final String msgType = getHeaderString(MsgType.FIELD);
+                return MessageUtils.isAdminMessage(msgType);
+            } catch (final FieldNotFound e) {
+                // shouldn't happen
+            }
+        }
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public String getHeaderString(int tag) throws FieldNotFound {
+        for (TagPair field : fields) {
+            if (field.tag == tag) {
+                return field.value;
+            }
+        }
+        throw new FieldNotFound(tag);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int getHeaderInt(int tag) throws FieldNotFound {
+        for (TagPair field : fields) {
+            if (field.tag == tag) {
+                return Integer.parseInt(field.value);
+            }
+        }
+        throw new FieldNotFound(tag);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void setHeaderString(int tag, String value) {
+        for (TagPair field : fields) {
+            if (field.tag == tag) {
+                field.value = value;
+                return;
+            }
+        }
+        fields.add(new TagPair(tag, value));
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void setString(int tag, String value) {
+        for (TagPair field : fields) {
+            if (field.tag == tag) {
+                field.value = value;
+                return;
+            }
+        }
+        fields.add(new TagPair(tag, value));
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void setHeaderInt(int tag, int value) {
+        for (TagPair field : fields) {
+            if (field.tag == tag) {
+                field.value = Integer.toString(value);
+                return;
+            }
+        }
+        fields.add(new TagPair(tag, Integer.toString(value)));
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void setInt(int tag, int value) {
+        for (TagPair field : fields) {
+            if (field.tag == tag) {
+                field.value = Integer.toString(value);
+                return;
+            }
+        }
+        fields.add(new TagPair(tag, Integer.toString(value)));
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void setHeaderUtcTimeStamp(int tag, LocalDateTime dateTime, UtcTimestampPrecision precision) {
+        for (TagPair field : fields) {
+            if (field.tag == tag) {
+                field.value = UtcTimestampConverter.convert(dateTime, precision);
+                return;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean isSetHeaderField(int tag) {
+        for (TagPair field : fields) {
+            if (field.tag == tag) {
+                return true;
+            }
+        }
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean isSetField(int tag) {
+        for (TagPair field : fields) {
+            if (field.tag == tag) {
+                return true;
+            }
+        }
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean getBoolean(int tag) throws FieldNotFound {
+        try {
+            return BooleanConverter.convert(getString(tag));
+        } catch (FieldConvertError e) {
+            throw newIncorrectDataException(e, tag);
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int getInt(int tag) throws FieldNotFound {
+        try {
+            return IntConverter.convert(getString(tag));
+        } catch (FieldConvertError e) {
+            throw newIncorrectDataException(e, tag);
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public String getString(int tag) throws FieldNotFound {
+        for (TagPair field : fields) {
+            if (field.tag == tag) {
+                return field.value;
+            }
+        }
+        throw new FieldNotFound(tag);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void removeHeaderField(int field) {
+        fields.removeIf(f -> f.tag == field);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public FieldException getException() {
+        return null;
+    }
+
+    private FieldException newIncorrectDataException(FieldConvertError e, int tag) {
+        return new FieldException(SessionRejectReason.INCORRECT_DATA_FORMAT_FOR_VALUE,
+                e.getMessage(), tag);
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file