Crystals of thulium bromate enneahydrate were grown and the magnetic susceptibility χ⊥ and the magnetic anisotropy Δχ(= χ∥ − χ⊥) were measured in the range 300-14 K and 300-80 K, respectively. χ∥ and χ⊥ show widely divergent thermal variation; the χ∥ versus T plot is nearly flat compared to that of χ⊥ · Smooth variation of χ⊥ down to 14 K does not suggest any structural phase transition or symmetry breaking. Our observed data and that of Simizu et al. [ J. Appl. Phys55, 2333 (1984)] below 4 K were analyzed for the first time invoking an effective crystal field. Our theoretical values in general provide excellent agreement to the observed data. Very brief comment on the behavior of χ∥ below 4 K by Simizu et al. is borne out qualitatively by our theory, but their absolute value seems abnormally high, which makes it suspect. The computed crystal field spectra led us to locate the peaks in the electronic heat capacity and to find the quadrupole splitting of the 8.42 keV nuclear excited state of 169 Tm; high magnetic field enhancement at the nucleus suggests complex Mössbauer spectra in the presence of a magnetic field perpendicular to the symmetry axis.