what is the historical origin of the installation ceremony for a worshipful master and how did the virtual past master degree develop

The installation of a Lodge Master originally existed as a simple form of investiture, accompanied by the reading of ancient charges and regulations to the Master Elect 34. Historically, the Past Master status was an honorarium bestowed within symbolic lodges upon those who had presided over the chair 2. R. F. Gould argued that the esoteric teaching attached to Mastership was originally linked to the secrets of the Royal Arch, which initially required a candidate to have presided as Master of a lodge 13.

To qualify candidates for the Royal Arch who had not served a full term in the chair, the "Ancients" introduced a constructive passing through the chair 13. This practice generated a division between actual Past Masters, who had presided over a symbolic lodge, and virtual or passed Masters, who received a chair degree solely to satisfy the prerequisite for exaltation 12. The "Moderns" worked passing the chair as early as 1769 at Bolton as a preparatory step for the Royal Arch, but the formal degree of Installed Master was not officially adopted by the London Masters under that system until 1810 3.

When Royal Arch Chapters separated from symbolic lodge governance, they retained the right to confer the virtual Past Master degree within their own bodies 12. This dual tradition led to jurisdictional friction, as grand lodges debated whether chapter-made Past Masters possessed any legal standing or right of presence during the installation of an actual Master of a lodge 2. The United Grand Lodge of England prohibited the practice of virtual passing of the chair in 1826, though the virtual Past Master degree remained a standard part of Capitular Masonry in the United States 1.