At the time of the Princess Alice Disaster, Britain was engaged in the 9th Xhosa War (1877-79, also known as the Cape Frontier Wars, or Africa's 100 Years War.

Reference:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xhosa_Wars#Background_4 [accessed 30Jul2019]

	The bodies were taken to a Woolwich dockyard.
	Clothing from bodies which could not be identified was brought to Woolwich, where families and friends of those still missing tried to identify them. Many bodies were identified in this way.

Pictures from a supplement to The Illustrated London News of 14 September 1878