Perhaps Tony died after a battle (5)
I believe the answer is:
award
'perhaps tony' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'died after a battle' is the wordplay.
'died' becomes 'd' (abbreviation next to the year of someone's death).
'after' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'battle' becomes 'war' (I've seen this in other clues).
'a'+'war'='awar'
'd' put after 'awar' is 'AWARD'.
(Other definitions for award that I've seen before include "Tony is one" , "medal, perhaps" , "settlement" , "Prize or other mark of recognition" , "Gong (informal)" .)