Solitary child follows oriental soldiers (7)
I believe the answer is:
eremite
'solitary' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'child follows oriental soldiers' is the wordplay.
'child' becomes 'mite' (I've seen this in other clues**).
'follows' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'oriental' becomes 'e'.
'soldiers' becomes 're' (Royal Engineers).
'e'+'re'='ere'
'mite' put after 'ere' is 'EREMITE'.
(Other definitions for eremite that I've seen before include "ascetic" , "Solitary" , "desert father" , "Christian hermit or recluse" , "Christian living in severe circumstances" .)