This essay explores the autobiographical writings of the Quaker leader George Fox during his series of imprisonments in the 1650s. Through a detailed analysis of the textual variants in three editions of his prison accounts – found in the Short Journal, the Cambridge Journal and the Ellwood Journal – it adduces the role that Thomas Ellwood (as editor) played in shaping, and not just ventriloquising, the devotional identity of this dogmatic religious leader. In doing so, this essay reveals to what extent Fox’s representation of imprisonment – and his own devotional character – had been censored, and the effects these changes had on the reception of him and his journal.