[2] After the Union of 1813 (in December of that year) that formed the United Grand Lodge of England, it was necessary that the ritual be standardised, with approval of the Grand Lodges of Ireland and Scotland.
A result of this was the International Compact, which governs relations between the three Grand Lodges.
[5] The most notable changes were made in 1964, when an alternative form of reference to the ancient penalties was approved,[6] and again in 1986 when a resolution from UGLE decreed that the so-called ‘blood oaths’, or symbolic penalties, were to be removed from the obligations taken by candidates for the three degrees or installation as a master.
When the regular demonstrations of the "Lectures of the Craft" by the Grand Stewards' Lodge ceased in the 1860s, the Emulation Lodge of Improvement also became the leading body regularly working these.
[7] When a Brother acts as Master for any of the demonstrated ceremonies and delivers the work without need of prompt or correction, he is awarded an inscribed silver matchbox on the first occasion, with additional inscriptions added for each of the four Emulation ceremonies worked.