diff --git a/wagtail/core/tests/test_whitelist.py b/wagtail/core/tests/test_whitelist.py
index eb7c60d43..1eba4893b 100644
--- a/wagtail/core/tests/test_whitelist.py
+++ b/wagtail/core/tests/test_whitelist.py
@@ -143,3 +143,8 @@ class TestWhitelister(TestCase):
         string = '<b>snowman Yorkshire<!--[if gte mso 10]>MS word junk<![endif]--></b>'
         cleaned_string = Whitelister.clean(string)
         self.assertEqual(cleaned_string, '<b>snowman Yorkshire</b>')
+
+    def test_quoting(self):
+        string = '<img alt="Arthur &quot;two sheds&quot; Jackson" sheds="2">'
+        cleaned_string = Whitelister.clean(string)
+        self.assertEqual(cleaned_string, '<img alt="Arthur &quot;two sheds&quot; Jackson"/>')
diff --git a/wagtail/core/whitelist.py b/wagtail/core/whitelist.py
index e93715d05..a2a4041e6 100644
--- a/wagtail/core/whitelist.py
+++ b/wagtail/core/whitelist.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ specific rules.
 import re
 
 from bs4 import BeautifulSoup, Comment, NavigableString, Tag
+from django.utils.html import escape
 
 ALLOWED_URL_SCHEMES = ['http', 'https', 'ftp', 'mailto', 'tel']
 
@@ -96,7 +97,13 @@ class Whitelister:
         attributes"""
         doc = BeautifulSoup(html, 'html5lib')
         cls.clean_node(doc, doc)
-        return doc.decode()
+
+        # Pass strings through django.utils.html.escape when generating the final HTML.
+        # This differs from BeautifulSoup's default EntitySubstitution.substitute_html formatter
+        # in that it escapes " to &quot; as well as escaping < > & - if we don't do this, then
+        # BeautifulSoup will try to be clever and use single-quotes to wrap attribute values,
+        # which confuses our regexp-based db-HTML-to-real-HTML conversion.
+        return doc.decode(formatter=escape)
 
     @classmethod
     def clean_node(cls, doc, node):