Uncle, man lacking money and close to despair (10)
I believe the answer is:
pawnbroker
'uncle' is the definition.
(informal term for a pawnbroker)
'man lacking money and close to despair' is the wordplay.
'man' becomes 'pawn' (man can mean a chess piece).
'lacking money' becomes 'broke' (broke can mean having no money).
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'close to' suggests the final letters (the 'close' to the word).
The last letter of 'despair' is 'r'.
'pawn'+'broke'+'r'='PAWNBROKER'
(Other definitions for pawnbroker that I've seen before include "One lending against deposited goods" , "Lender against items" , "shopkeeper" , "One who does business" , "His sign is three balls" .)