Born and died, unknown and poor (5)
I believe the answer is:
needy
'poor' is the definition.
(I know that needy is a type of poor)
'born and died unknown' is the wordplay.
'born' becomes 'nee' ('nee' is 'born' in French).
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'died' becomes 'd' (abbreviation next to the year of someone's death).
'unknown' becomes 'y' (algebra).
'nee'+'d'+'y'='NEEDY'
'and' is the link.
(Other definitions for needy that I've seen before include "Poor; wanting affection" , "Deprived" , "lacking resources" , "Necessitous" , "Impecunious" .)