Follower died here in soldier's grip (8)
I believe the answer is:
adherent
'follower' is the definition.
(I know that adherent is a type of follower)
'died here in soldier's grip' is the wordplay.
'died' becomes 'd' (abbreviation next to the year of someone's death).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'soldier's grip' becomes 'ant' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'd'+'here'='dhere'
'dhere' going within 'ant' is 'ADHERENT'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for adherent that I've seen before include "supporter of party" , "advocate" , "Person supporting" , "Loyal follower, one who sticks" , "Supporter, follower" .)