diff --git a/Lib/ftplib.py b/Lib/ftplib.py
--- a/Lib/ftplib.py
+++ b/Lib/ftplib.py
@@ -343,19 +343,23 @@
             host, port = self.makepasv()
             conn = socket.create_connection((host, port), self.timeout,
                                             source_address=self.source_address)
-            if rest is not None:
-                self.sendcmd("REST %s" % rest)
-            resp = self.sendcmd(cmd)
-            # Some servers apparently send a 200 reply to
-            # a LIST or STOR command, before the 150 reply
-            # (and way before the 226 reply). This seems to
-            # be in violation of the protocol (which only allows
-            # 1xx or error messages for LIST), so we just discard
-            # this response.
-            if resp[0] == '2':
-                resp = self.getresp()
-            if resp[0] != '1':
-                raise error_reply(resp)
+            try:
+                if rest is not None:
+                    self.sendcmd("REST %s" % rest)
+                resp = self.sendcmd(cmd)
+                # Some servers apparently send a 200 reply to
+                # a LIST or STOR command, before the 150 reply
+                # (and way before the 226 reply). This seems to
+                # be in violation of the protocol (which only allows
+                # 1xx or error messages for LIST), so we just discard
+                # this response.
+                if resp[0] == '2':
+                    resp = self.getresp()
+                if resp[0] != '1':
+                    raise error_reply(resp)
+            except:
+                conn.close()
+                raise
         else:
             sock = self.makeport()
             if rest is not None:
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_urllib2.py b/Lib/test/test_urllib2.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_urllib2.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_urllib2.py
@@ -623,6 +623,7 @@
             def retrfile(self, filename, filetype):
                 self.filename, self.filetype = filename, filetype
                 return io.StringIO(self.data), len(self.data)
+            def close(self): pass
 
         class NullFTPHandler(urllib.request.FTPHandler):
             def __init__(self, data): self.data = data
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_urllib2net.py b/Lib/test/test_urllib2net.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_urllib2net.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_urllib2net.py
@@ -222,6 +222,7 @@
         handlers = []
 
         cfh = urllib.request.CacheFTPHandler()
+        self.addCleanup(cfh.clear_cache)
         cfh.setTimeout(1)
         handlers.append(cfh)
 
diff --git a/Lib/urllib/request.py b/Lib/urllib/request.py
--- a/Lib/urllib/request.py
+++ b/Lib/urllib/request.py
@@ -1358,6 +1358,7 @@
                    value in ('a', 'A', 'i', 'I', 'd', 'D'):
                     type = value.upper()
             fp, retrlen = fw.retrfile(file, type)
+            fw.close()
             headers = ""
             mtype = mimetypes.guess_type(req.full_url)[0]
             if mtype:
@@ -1421,6 +1422,12 @@
                     break
             self.soonest = min(list(self.timeout.values()))
 
+    def clear_cache(self):
+        for conn in self.cache.values():
+            conn.close()
+        self.cache.clear()
+
+
 # Code move from the old urllib module
 
 MAXFTPCACHE = 10        # Trim the ftp cache beyond this size
@@ -2151,6 +2158,8 @@
         self.port = port
         self.dirs = dirs
         self.timeout = timeout
+        self.refcount = 0
+        self.closed = False
         self.init()
 
     def init(self):
@@ -2201,7 +2210,8 @@
             conn, retrlen = self.ftp.ntransfercmd(cmd)
         self.busy = 1
 
-        ftpobj = addclosehook(conn.makefile('rb'), self.endtransfer)
+        ftpobj = addclosehook(conn.makefile('rb'), self.file_close)
+        self.refcount += 1
         conn.close()
         # Pass back both a suitably decorated object and a retrieval length
         return (ftpobj, retrlen)
@@ -2216,6 +2226,17 @@
             pass
 
     def close(self):
+        self.closed = True
+        if self.refcount <= 0:
+            self.real_close()
+
+    def file_close(self):
+        self.endtransfer()
+        self.refcount -= 1
+        if self.refcount <= 0 and self.closed:
+            self.real_close()
+
+    def real_close(self):
         self.endtransfer()
         try:
             self.ftp.close()